In the Constitution of CAST, science popularization is listed as one of the major tasks of CAST.
In accordance with the responsibilities defined in the Law of the People's Republic of China on Popularization of Science and Technology adopted by the National People's Congress and in the Outline of the Action Plan for the Nation's Science Literacy issued by the State Council, CAST puts into full play the resources of the whole society in its endeavor to popularize science among the general public and enhance science literacy of the whole nation.
Implementing the Action Plan for the Nation's Science Literacy
The Action Plan is designed to raise the nation's scientific literacy in a phased manner from 2006 to 2010, and further to 2020. CAST plays a major role in its implementation. Oriented mainly to the rural population, urban working force and children, CAST organizes various forms of activities to uphold the scientific spirit, disseminate scientific knowledge and foster a scientific way of thinking among the public. This will help enhance the science literacy of the whole society and contribute significantly to the building of a harmonious society.
Pushing forward the building of the infrastructure for science literacy
Four projects have been developed to help the implementation of the Action Plan for the Nation's Science Literacy, i.e. "science education and training", "development and sharing of science popularization resources", "capacity building in science communication by the mass media", and "infrastructure for science popularization".
Advancing the development and sharing of science popularization resources
Great efforts are being made to promote the building of science centers, science museums and other facilities for science popularization in various parts of the country. The project of the China Digital Science and Technology Museum (CDSTM) was completed recently. Construction of bases for training science popularization workers and for childrenĄ¯s science activities is in full swing. These measures will make the CAST family a center for development, distribution and service provision of science popularization resources..
Organizing society-oriented science popularization activities
In order to promote the implementation of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Popularization of Science and Technology and mobilize all the social forces to participate in the endeavor to popularize science and technology so as to enhance the scientific literacy of the whole nation, CAST and its affiliates sponsor and organize various types of the society-oriented science popularization activities such as the National Science and Technology Week and the National Science Popularization Day.
Developing science education activities for youth and children
CAST is the sponsor and organizer of many science education activities, such as the National Juvenile Science and Innovation Competition and National Children's Competition of Robotics. It also organizes Chinese teams to participate in international scientific events for children, such as the international science Olympiads. Through these activities, the creativeness of the children and their interest in science are considerably enhanced.
Promoting the building of the socialist new countryside
CAST has launched a project of "bringing about a prosperous countryside through science popularization", which aims to enhance science literacy of farmers by means of developing rural professional technology associations and pilot rural science popularization bases and awarding science popularization activists and science popularization teams working in minority ethnic groups. | 
