Biotech in China: Innovation, Politics, and Economics

Description

In her quest for global leadership in science and technology, the People’s Republic of China has attained top ranks in the number of scientific publications, "hot papers," or national and international patent applications. However, analysis of the underlying structures and mechanisms is hindered by the sheer flood of data, stringent government control of all media, and ambiguities inherent in translation from Chinese. This book overcomes these difficulties and provides a concise picture of biotechnology-related research and development in China. It begins with brief accounts of China’s geography, people, political and administrational structure, economy, finance, infrastructure related to science and technology, and educational system. It presents succinct accounts on structures and developments in biomedicine, diagnostics, agriculture, fermented food, bioindustry, and environmental biotechnology, with reference to government, industry, and academia. Finally, it predicts the next steps in Chinese biotechnology for the national agenda and, in view of China’s ambitious global development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative. Cover Half Title Title Copyright Contents Preface About the Information Provided in This Book Abbreviation 1. Country and People 1.1 Geography 1.2 Resources 1.3 History 1.4 People and Society 1.5 Expatriates 1.6 Religion, Philosophy, and Ethics 2. Government and Political Structure 2.1 Legislative and Executive Bodies 2.2 The Judiciary 2.3 The Communist Party 2.4 The Military and Paramilitary Forces 2.5 Administrational Structure 2.5.1 Municipalities and Special Zones 2.5.2 Autonomous Administrative Regions 2.5.3 Provinces 2.5.4 Megacities 2.6 Regional Administration 2.7 Some Government Offices Related to Biotechnology 3. Economy and Finance 3.1 Economy: Successes 3.2 Economy: Challenges 3.2.1 Unproductive Farming 3.2.2 A More Balanced Development Throughout China 3.3 Finance 3.4 Trends Toward a Sustainable, Environmentally Friendly Economy 4. Infrastructure 4.1 Energy and the Grid 4.1.1 Energy Mix 4.1.2 Coal 4.1.3 Oil and Gas 4.1.4 Nonfossil Energies 4.1.5 The Grid 4.2 Urban Development and Traffic 4.2.1 Urban Development 4.2.2 Roads 4.2.3 Rail 4.2.4 Air Traffic 4.2.5 Water Transport 4.3 Telecommunication 4.4 Public Infrastructure Related to the Life Sciences 4.4.1 Biobanks 4.4.2 Culture Collections 4.4.3 Data Banks 4.4.4 Repositories for Animal Models of Human Disease 5. Higher Education and Research 5.1 Basic Education 5.2 University Education 5.3 Studying Abroad 5.4 Universities 5.4.1 A Short History of Life Science Education and Research in China 5.5 Chinese Academy of Sciences 中国科学院 5.5.1 Collaborative Research at State Key Laboratories 5.5.2 Life Science Research in the Chinese Academy of Sciences 5.6 Other Academies 5.7 Academicians 5.8 Prizes and Decorations 5.9 Financing Research and Technology 5.10 Intellectual Property (IP) 6. Health Care and Biomedicine 6.1 Public Health, Diseases, and Death Statistics 6.2 Public Health Care System and Its Regulation 6.3 China’s Pharmaceutical Market 6.4 The Pharmaceutical Industry 6.5 Biopharmaceutical Products 6.5.1 Antibiotics 6.5.2 Biologics 6.5.3 Animal and Human Vaccines 6.5.4 Products from Blood Plasma 6.5.5 Insulin 6.5.6 Erythropoietin 6.5.7 Interferon-ß 6.5.8 Thrombolytics 6.5.9 Clotting Factors 6.5.10 Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies 6.6 Traditional Chinese Medicine 6.7 The MedTech Industry 6.8 Frontiers 1: Brain and Microbiome Research 6.8.1 Brain Research 6.8.2 Microbiome Research 6.9 Frontiers 2: Genomic Medicine 6.9.1 Rare Diseases 6.9.2 Personalized Medicine 6.9.3 Genome Sequencing and Gene Banks 6.9.4 Gene Therapy 6.9.5 Genome Editing in Humans 6.10 Frontiers 3: Cell-Based Medicine 6.10.1 Research and Translational R&D 6.10.2 Cell Depositories 6.10.3 3D Printed Tissues in Surgery 6.10.4 Organ Replacement and Xenotransplantation 6.10.5 Animal Models for Human Diseases 6.11 Frontiers 4: Bio-Digital Frontiers 6.11.1 Telemedicine and Internet Hospitals 6.11.2 Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence 6.12 The COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study 6.12.1 Social Distancing and Lockdown 6.12.2 IT-Based Surveillance 6.12.3 Medical Diagnosis 6.12.4 Medical Treatment 6.12.5 Vaccination 6.13 Policies and Rankings 6.13.1 Policies on Biomedicine During the Present Five-Year Plan (“135”) 6.13.2 Biomedical Science Parks 6.13.3 Media, Blogs, and Rankings 7. Agriculture and Fermented Food 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Crop Breeding and Biotechnology 7.2.1 Rice 7.2.2 Wheat, Millet, Sorghum, Barley 7.2.3 Tea 7.2.4 Soybean 7.2.5 Sugarcane and Sugar Beet 7.2.6 Peanuts, Corn, Sweet Potato 7.2.7 Oil Plants 7.2.8 Tobacco 7.2.9 Cotton 7.3 Transgenic Plants and Animals 7.4 Improving Agricultural Technologies 7.5 Forestry 7.6 Animal Husbandry 7.6.1 Meat 7.6.2 Fish 7.6.3 Milk 7.7 Agro Research 7.7.1 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences 中国农业科学院 7.7.2 Other Institutes 7.8 Agrobusiness 7.9 Fermented Food 7.9.1 Fermented Soybean Paste 7.9.2 Soy Sauce 7.9.3 Vinegar 7.9.4 Yoghurt and Probiotics 7.9.5 Chinese Liquor 7.9.6 Chinese Rice Wine 7.9.7 Beer 7.9.8 Grapewine 7.9.9 R&D on Fermented Food 8. Industrial Biotechnology 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Fermentation Products 8.2.1 Flavor Enhancers: Monosodium Glutamate and Nucleotides 8.2.2 Animal Feed Additives: Amino Acids 8.2.3 Citric Acid and l-Malic Acid 8.2.4 Vitamin C 8.2.5 Fuel Additives: Ethanol and 1-Butanol 8.2.6 Antibiotics and Vaccines 8.2.7 Industrial Enzymes 8.2.8 Polymer Building Blocks and Biopolymers 8.3 Process Engineering 8.4 New Biotechnologies 8.4.1 Chinese Groups Involved in R&D on High Performing Microorganisms or Enzymes for Industrial Biotechnology 8.4.2 Metabolic Engineering and Synthetic Biology 8.4.3 Genome Engineering and “Smart Cells” 9. Environmental Biotechnology and Sustainable Development Goals 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Air Pollution 9.2.1 Sources of Air Pollution 9.2.2 Contributions of (Bio)technology and Biology 9.3 Water Pollution 9.3.1 Water Quality Control 9.3.2 Contributions of Biotechnology 9.4 Rivers, Lakes, and Marine Pollution 9.5 Soil Pollution 9.6 Anti-Desertification and Afforestation 9.7 Household Waste Management 9.8 Greenhouse Gases 9.9 Biodiversity and National Parks 9.10 Major Institutions Involved in Environmental R&D 9.11 China and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 10. Next Steps 10.1 Future Priorities Relating to Biotech 10.1.1 Ongoing Long-Term Plans 10.1.2 What to Expect from the 14th Five-Year Plan (“145”)? 10.2 International Policies Relating to Biotech 10.2.1 China’s Membership in International Organisations 10.2.2 China’s “Belt and Road” Initiative (BRI) 10.3 Chinese and Western Approaches 10.4 Final Words Index Picture Credits