Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the national academy for natural sciences, mathematics and engineering of the People's Republic. Founded in Beijing in 1949 as the successor to the 1928 Academia Sinica, it now runs more than 100 research institutes across the country. Its headquarters sits in Haidian district, Beijing's science quarter. The campus is a working institution rather than a tourist site, but a walk through the university belt around Zhongguancun Street shows, in the red sandstone gate and research towers, how tightly Chinese science policy is woven into the city.