Chi Binyuan from Zhuhai City invented the new tourniquet "Thrombin" which generated huge economic benefits for the factory. Chi was rewarded with a house, a bonus of over 260,000 yuan and a car. (Photo taken on June 25, 1993 by Xinhua News Agency)
BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua)--In the early 1990s, bonus up to 1.1 million yuan was a huge amount. Xu Qingzhong, the-director and deputy chief engineer of Zhuhai Livzon Pharmaceutical Research Institute, was overwhelmed when he heard that he and his four assistants would be awarded with 1.1 million yuan for his widely known Livzon Dele electuary, which was developed by his team and generated a net profit of more than 27 million yuan in 1991.
Actually, the bonus was from the "Science and Technology Awards". “Science and technology are the first productive force,” Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's reform and opening-up, proposed on March 9, 1992.Zhuhai government believed that the development of special zone economic depends on scientific and technological progress; while the development of high-tech industries should attract talents. Therefore, Zhuhai held a Science and Technology Progress Awards Conference in 1991 to reward scientists and technicians with outstanding contributions, which was the first time in the whole country.
The news aroused heated discussion. Many people held that such generous rewards reflected recognition of and respect for knowledge. However, this unprecedented practice also caused anxious of those who designed the awards.“Even 50,000 yuan, not to mention 1 million yuan, would be very difficult to get. There was a lot of mental struggle. While others were still debating, Zhuhai had already paved a way different from others,” said You Jingyu, one of the award recipients.
During his visit to Zhuhai in 1992, Deng Xiaoping applauded the practice of awarding scientists with huge prizes. His support helped Zhuhai withstand the objection and doubts from all sides, and made the science and technology awards sustained.
Like a bolt out of the blue, the science and technology awards in Zhuhai amazed and attracted the scientific community home and abroad. Consequently,a large number of scientific and technological talents, along with their achievements and funds, made their way to Zhuhai.
Statistics show that in the first three years after the Science and Technology Awards were rolled out, 23,000 scientific and technological personnel and more than 800 overseas scholars expressed their wish to settle in Zhuhai. Scientists and experts amounting to more than 5,000-person times bringing with more than 400 scientific and technological achievements came to Zhuhai to discuss cooperation possibilities. More than 800 million yuan of investments poured into the city. This brought vitality to Zhuhai’s high-tech industry at that time.
Furthermore, the initiative of awarding SciTech personnel with huge prizes attracted an unprecedented large number of talents to Zhuhai. Thanks to this campaign, Zhuhai began to thrive under improved development plans.(Reporter: Mao Lili)
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