The Background of the Development of the Geographical Sciences in China

This chapter sets out the background to the development of geographical sciences from three aspects, namely the funding of investment on the geographical sciences by NSFC, the distribution of faculties in major Chinese universities and their research status, and the development of the Geographical Society of China and its contributions to the construction of an academic platform. Between 1986 and 2015, the number and total value of NSFC geographical sciences funded projects are more than doubled in each 5-year period, and the average funding per project for major types of projects is more than 10 times the earlier figure. Excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese Taiwan, 6893 people from 685 institutions in China's provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government have been supported in the past 30 years. Researchers from Beijing, Jiangsu, Gansu, Hubei and Guangdong account for 58.7 % of the total funded people and 68.8 % of the total funding. The funding of these 33 universities, which involved in the Ministry of Education's 2012 curriculum assessment for Geography, shows that research which are reality-oriented and which explores scientific questions drives the development of geographical sciences; however, funding for education receives only 6 % of the total. The Geographical Society of China is building an advanced platform for communication in geography at both home and abroad, contributing to the training of talented people and the development of the geographical sciences in China.