A Review of the Past Century in the Context of the Past Millennium:Science & Society in China and the West

In order to understand the significance and future of science, we must make clear the interaction between science and society. Although a consensus on this has reached among scholars and even the public, an explicit analytical framework for related studies on science and society is so far unavailable.In light of the outlook of cultural evolutionism, this article puts forward an analytic framework, on which an analysis on the Chinese science in the 20th century is made based on the discussion of science in China and the West. The principal conclusion obtained from the discussion is: Without a system of modern democracy, it is impossible to make science prosper and without a modern market system, technological progress is out of the question. Similarly, without contributions to the world's science and technology, the Chinese nation will not be able to get an equal foothold among the other nations in today's world.