caa a22 4500 388103795 CHVBK 20180307125330.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199912 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0305741000001417 doi S0305741000001417 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0305741000001417 Cao Cong Social Origins of the Chinese Scientific Elite [Elektronische Daten] [Cong Cao] The literature on China's social stratification and mobility has discussed the roles of family background and an individual's education attainment. This article aims to extend the existing literature by examining the interplay of these two aspects in fostering a homogeneous group of scientists, the members (yuanshi) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS, Zhongguo kexueyuan). Since its establishment in 1955, honorific CAS membership has been awarded to outstanding Chinese scientists in their respective fields. As of the end of 1997, a total of 859 Chinese natural scientists, including 40 women, had been elected to the five Academic Divisions of the CAS - Mathematics and Physics, Chemistry, Biological Sciences, Earth Sciences, and Technological Sciences (Table 1) - of whom 610 were alive. They have been renowned, nationally if not internationally, for their academic achievements and contributions, and they have a reputation and prestige similar to those enjoyed by their counterparts in other countries, such as members of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States and fellows of the Royal Society in Britain. Because the occupational prestige of scientists is very high in China, as it is in other countries, and following similar research on the scientific elite, it is reasonable to define CAS members as the Chinese scientific elite. Copyright © The China Quarterly 1999 The China Quarterly Cambridge University Press 160(1999-12), 992-1018 0305-7410 160<992 1999 160 CQY https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741000001417 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741000001417 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Cao Cong NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- The China Quarterly Cambridge University Press 160(1999-12), 992-1018 0305-7410 160<992 1999 160 CQY CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence SWISSBIB 188517065 BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge