In less than thirty years, China has become a major force in the global economy. One feature of its rapid ascent has been an enormous expansion of the country's science and technology capabilities, leading to the emergence of a large and increasingly well-educated talent pool. Yet China finds itself engaged in an internal debate as to whether its full potential can be realised. At the heart of this debate lie a number of uncertainties surrounding the quality, quantity and effective utilisation of China's S&T workforce. Written by two leading experts in the field, this book is the first in forty years to address these critical issues. Building on exciting new research and a plethora of comprehensive statistical materials, its findings will have significant policy implications both for China and the international community, especially in terms of issues relating to national competitiveness and innovation potential.