Written by Peng Gong for Nature
This is a big month for the world’s superpowers. The United States elects its next president this week, and the following week brings the first change in China’s leadership for ten years.
Since 1989, the political bureau (politburo) of the Communist Party of China has been dominated by officials trained in engineering. This time, appointees with backgrounds in economics and administration are expected to constitute more than half of the standing committee, the most powerful section of the politburo. The scientific community inside and outside the country is wondering how this shift will affect the future of scientific research in China.