Force for good

According to Wang, China's total investment in research and development increased from 1.03 trillion yuan ($147.7 billion) in 2012 to 2.79 trillion yuan in 2021, and its proportion of R&D spending increased from 1.91 percent to 2.44 percent of GDP.

China also rose to 12th on the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index in 2021, up from 34th in 2012.

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said at the opening of the 19th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th Meeting of Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering on May 28, 2018, that innovation is the leading driving force, and high-quality innovations are needed to support a modern economic system.

"As the Mohist Canon says, 'Force is the reason that an object moves'," Xi said. "We will focus on improving the quality and efficiency of development, take supply-side structural reform as our main task and direct our efforts toward building a better-quality supply system."

Xi emphasized science and technology reforms to boost the vitality of innovation and noted that talented people are essential. "We must expand the channels to build a large talent pool," Xi said.

The Mohist Canon, or Mo Jing, was one of the classics from the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). According to Wang Xuebin, professor at the department of literature and history research of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee, Mohist principles were extracted from people's work and life experience. The school's founder, Chinese philosopher Mo Zi, was born into a poverty-stricken family of the Lu State, in today's Shandong province, and was also a craftsman during the Warring States Period.

"In the process of continuous implementation, Mo Zi continued to explore and refine scientific theories. His thought in logic and natural sciences was ahead of 100 other schools of thought back then," Wang Xuebin says.

Wang Xuebin says that, as one of the major schools of thought in the period before the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), Mohism has two approaches that are quite different from other schools and echo modern values.

One is to value the refinement of scientific theories and the exploration of science and technology, and the other is to focus on teaching students according to their own characteristics, putting a value on vocational education.

"Mohism's emphasis on science and technology, and on moral and intellectual development is in line with the principles of modern vocational education. In a sense, Mo Zi can be regarded as the originator of vocational education in China," he says.

"Our path of scientific and technological innovation is toward the common development of mankind, and it also continues our ancient Chinese tradition of valuing science and technology.

"Cultivation of innovative talent is the long-term plan of the nation. The contemporary competition among countries is for talent or education. So, we need to value our education, on one hand, to strengthen the foundation of basic subjects and on the other, we need to focus on integration of vocational education and general education."