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The "Golden Mean" Doctrine in the Chinese cultural tradition is not conducive to the cultivation of innovative scientists.

The scientific and cultural tradition of a country plays a quite important role in its innovation capacity and technological development and the winning of the Nobel Prize. In the Chinese history, there is a bright side in the scientific and cultural tradition, which has boosted the development and progress of the Chinese nation. However, there are some shortcomings and flaws as well, which may be a negative factor for China to win the Nobel Prize. We should view and treat the shortcomings and deficiencies in Chinese scientific and cultural tradition objectively.

The ancient Chinese civilization is brilliant and glorious. There are the Four Great Inventions that Chinese people are still proud of. The Chinese have made outstanding scientific achievements long before the scientific prosperity in the west. China had been the pacesetter in science and technology in the world before the 15^th century. There was the Rule of Zhenguan, a period in the Chinese history in Tang Dynasty when over five hundred Japanese students came to Chang’an to study. The ideas in the traditional Chinese culture including system, harmony, and truth-seeking have also exerted momentous impact on modern science and culture in the west. The role of the Chinese nation on the development of human civilization has been well-acknowledged in the world.

Speaking of the Chinese history of science, we must mention Joseph Needham, a British biochemist from Cambridge University. In 1937, he recruited 3 Chinese students: Wang Yinglai (the principal responsible person for the synthetic insulin study in china later), Lu Guizhen and Shen Shizhang. Their talents amazed Joseph Needham so much that he began to develop a yearning for the ancient Chinese civilization. He was already a renowned biochemist then. But he took a lot of efforts in studying Chinese, and was devoted in the study of the Chinese history of science at the cost of giving up his own specialty. In his “Science and Civilization in China”, a masterpiece of more than ten volumes, it was proved with substantial historical data that science and civilization in China had been unmatched by the west from the 3^rd century BC to the 13^th century; The scientific inventions and discoveries in China far outweighed those in contemporary Europe, which was especially so before the 15^th century.