Scientific American July 1997 [antikvár]

From the Editors The Future and Past of China M ^ hina's name means "the Middle Kingdom," a title that places I this giant country at the geographic, cultural and intellectual ^ hub of the world. With the repatriation of Hong Kong, the Middle Kingdom is again indeed at the center of the world's attention. Much of that attention is frankly dread: many observers fear what the economic and human-rights climates will be in Hong Kong under communist rule. The situation raises new security problems and moral quandaries of direct concern to many scientists and technologists, as stories in our News and Analysis explain, beginning on page 9. Science and technology will of course shape Chi- + na in the years ahead, and vice versa. Feeding its huge population will continue to be China's top priority (see "Can China Feed Itself?" by Roy L. Prosterman, Tim Hanstad and Li Ping, in the November 1996 issue), but the country is nonetheless trying to make rapid progress. Many Chinese scientists are currently hobbled by lack of access to tools and instruments like those of their Western colleagues. If the changing fortunes of China lift those barriers, it may yet again become a Middle Kingdom of scientific influence. If the best way to grasp China's future is to look to its past, then one place to look is in the Mogao Grottoes. On a 1,600-meter-long cliff face at the outskirts of the Takla Makan Desert, near the Silk Road that for 1,000 years linked China by trade with more western Asia and Europe, sit hundreds of caves rich in Chinese cultural history. A prior wave of archaeological pillaging, a current wave of tourism and the steady scourge of the elements have eroded the grottoes and their prizes. Fortunately, the Getty Conservation Institute and Chinese authorities have in recent years been working to preserve the site. Neville Agnew and Fan Jinshi tell the story of the grottoes and of the conservation efforts in "China's Buddhist Treasures at Dunhuang," beginning on page 28. On the subject of past accomplishments, I'm delighted to report that Scientific American has won a National Magazine Award for its September 1996 single-topic issue, "What You Need to Know about Cancer." The American Society of Magazine Editors presents the National Magazine Awards annually for outstanding accomplishments in magazine publishing. The other members of the Board of Editors and I are grateful for this honor, but the lion's share of our gratitude still goes to the many researchers who contributed to that issue with their words and their discoveries. THE MIDDLE KINGDOM, pronounced "zhong guo," is China. JOHN RENNIE, Editor in Chief editors@>;ciam.com