According to "the Organization Law of the Central Government of the People's Republic of China" approved on September 27, 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was set up under the administration of the State Council, as a government institution for the management of the nation's scientific research.
In March of 1954, the central government described its basic policy for science development and, for the first time, put forward the principle of building up the national scientific research system with the CAS at its core and also including institutions of higher education and other research organizations of industries. The instruction is as follows: "The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the national center for scientific research and focuses on the scientific research within its own institutions. In addition, it should also keep a close contact with the scientific researchers around the country, and help coordinate the scientific research of various sectors."
The missions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences:
Defining the orientations of scientific research;
Training and proper allocation of academic professionals;
Restructuring and strengthening scientific research institutions;
Carrying out surveys of the academic professionals and research institutions for the country, reorganizing and setting up research institutions, drawing up the scientific research programs of the country;
Encouraging and helping overseas Chinese scientists to return home. There were three return-home upsurges of overseas Chinese scientists in the 1950s. Among those returned scientists, Li Siguang, Zhao Zhongyao, Ge Tingsui, Wu Wenjun, Qian Xuesen, Guo Yonghuai, Wang Dezhao, Lin Lanying and many others, became the founders and pioneers in many research fields in China;
Undertaking important S&T research projects for the construction of the New China: natural resources survey, many major technological research projects in industry and agriculture, and crucial contributions to the projects such as the construction of the iron and steel industry in Baotou and Wuhan, the development of the Chinese antibiotic industry, the harnessing and exploitation of the Yellow River, and the cultivation of rubber trees.
In 1955, the Academic Divisions of CAS were founded and the first group of 233 CAS Members were elected.