The National Scientific Imperative in Wartime China and the Complex Motivations of Individual Scientists

Abstract Although by the 1930s both state and nonstate actors generally agreed that science was key to the development of a modern China, there was no consensus on what that meant. The Second Sino-Japanese War stimulated a shift toward applied science that framed engagement in applied scientific activities as patriotic. This way of thinking was prevalent in Nationalist institutions. Although most scientists and social scientists understood themselves to be serving the nation, they did not all share this devotion to applied science. This article examines the Nationalist wartime institutional and rhetorical framework for scientific development and the complex ways in which scientists engaged with that framework. It shows that although the Nationalist state sought to bring science and technology into the service of the state, scientists, technicians, and social scientists, though often framing their work in terms of national need, were in fact motivated by a variety of interests and concerns.