Bulletin Autumn‧Winter 1991

they discovered and invented the new nonlinear optical crystal BBO and LBO, and they invented a new method for the computer proof of mathematical theorems. In the areas o f high temperature super­ conducting materials, novel magnetic materials, quasicrystals, layered-controlled mine-bed tech­ nology, breedings by genetic technology and in building an electron-positron co llide r w ith high luminosity, they also have attained internationally leading positions. An Overall Review The development of Chinese science and tech­ nology, from learning to popularization, from research to innovation, has been going on for over a century. We have made some progress and have first rate achievements in some areas, but with science and technology developing by leaps and bounds all over the world, we must admit that our overall standard is very much behind the best in the world, whether in terms o f depth or breadth, and whether in terms o f invention or application. There is a Chinese saying: learning is like rowing upstream —i f you do not go forward, you are actually falling behind. It is very much so in scientific and technological research and applications. Once the gap has widened, it becomes all the more d ifficult to catch up, it takes that much more effort, and it exacts that much a heavier price. The modernization o f China started very late, it went through a tortuous and d iffic u lt path, and we have lost many favourable opportunities. It is only by learning in earnest the lessons o f history, by carefully evaluating the times and the trends, and by grasping the opportunities to further development that we can begin to close the gap and catch up with the rest of the world in the race for modernization. What Needs to be Done Now? The song The March o f the Volunteers' ex­ horted the Chinese to overcome the deep national crisis brought about by Japanese invasion, reminding them that ‘the Chinese people is at the most dangerous moment in its history'. But now, with the population explosion, decrease in natural resources, deterioration o f the environment, and the damage done to the ecology, the modernization o f China is at yet another critical moment. In another 40 years, even with strin­ gent fam ily planning, the population of China w ill reach 1.6 billion, and the average acreage o f arable land per capita w ill drop to about one mu (0.067 hectare). The heavy burden o f such a huge population is perhaps twice what the land of China can reason­ ably bear. The huge population is now exerting heavy pressures on resources and on the environment, and is dissipating the thrust o f economic development, and also capital. In the next few decades, we may well see population, resources, environment and the standard ‘. . . with the population explosion, decrease in natural resources, deterioration o f the environment, and the damage done to the ecology, the modernization o f China is at yet another critical moment. ， 42ND CONGREGATION 11