Millionaire research scientists on the rise

Government’s push to put science and technology at the forefront of the nation’s development is creating a new breed of highly paid scientific academics who are leading the nation’s rise as a global power in scientific research, writes Stephen Chen for South China Morning Post.

China is now the world’s second largest contributor to high-quality scientific research papers, right behind the United States, according to the Nature Index 2016 released last week. Better salaries and other financial benefits – thanks largely to government largesse – help swell the ranks of China’s research teams.

The scientific journal Nature conducted a global survey of scientists’ salaries in 2010 and found the average Chinese scientist earned less than US$40,000 a year. Their counterparts in the United States, meanwhile, made an average of almost US$80,000. Researchers and academics in China interviewed by the South China Morning Post suggest this picture has changed.
Full report on the South China Morning Post site