China's spending on research and development (R&D) has seen rapid growth in the past 25 years as the country pursues a strategy of development through scientific and technological progress.

A report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that China's R&D spending surged by an average of 20.3 percent annually between 1992 and 2017, with the amount for last year reaching 1.76 trillion yuan (about 257 billion U.S. dollars), about 123 times the amount in 1991.

By the end of last year, the country had 6.2 million employees in R&D. R&D spending in 2017 accounted for 2.12 percent of China's gross domestic product.

According to the 13th five-year plan for national science and technology talent development (2016-2020), China will increase its annual per capita spending on R&D to 500,000 yuan by 2020, up from 370,000 yuan in 2014.