For every billion in funds that the Chinese government pours into research, there are probably a hundred overseas researchers ready to return to take advantage of its generosity. But the investment boom aimed at strengthening China's science greatly outweighs the development of administrative infrastructure needed to monitor the system.

A petition has brought the problem to the attention of the Chinese scientific community. Critics say that overseas Chinese researchers are rapaciously gathering grants in China while reneging on agreements to spend most of their time overseeing the research projects there (see page 3). The critics, most of whom gave up positions abroad to work full-time in China, rightly want the government to act.

This will require the government to do something it is not used to doing: establish a greater rapport with a wider base of its researchers. In other words, it needs to complement its notoriously top-down approach to scientific investment with a bottom-up element, whereby a wide range of China's researchers can give feedback to the government, not only on issues of misconduct and cheating, but also on investment priorities.

Without determined action, some researchers will continue to get big grants and big laboratories without putting in the time. The research institutions or universities that house them stand to gain from the grants' overhead contributions, and might thus tolerate abuse. But Chinese science will lose out. It will not only lose the investment, through inefficient use, but it could also lose the faith of researchers as it blurs the line between those who are running back and forth between two countries honestly trying to help China, often with little recompense, and those who are merely out for gain.