This work is the outcome of the author's five-year inquiry into the role played by science and technology in the process of Chinese development. It deals with the complex dilemmas facing a less developed country like China in attempting to apply science and technology for the goal of modernization. It points out both the achievements of the diligent Chinese and the predicament they face today as a result of the structural defects and institutional constraints embedded in their political and economic systems. This work spans the fields of science and technology policy, development studies, modern China studies and political sociology.