Campaigns to popularize science with the general public are getting more diversified, with more and more involving international exchanges and cooperation, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology said Tuesday. 

Photos: VCG

The number of public venues popularizing science is growing, and more and more research facilities are open to the public, it said in its annual report on nationwide popular science data.

The report showed that the national science fundraising level reached 16 billion yuan ($2.32 billion), up 5.32 percent year-on-year, attracting over 700 million people in campaigns themed on science education. 

Venues for science education continue to grow rapidly, with the infrastructure spending on them totaling 3.74 billion yuan, up 10.54 percent year-on-year. In 2017, there were 1,439 popular science venues nationwide, with the number of visitors continuing to increase to about 200 million visitors, the statistics show. 

Meanwhile, full-time staff for science education is increasing. In 2017, there were 227,000 full-time science education professionals.

2017 also saw China's major science resources stepping up their efforts in science education campaigns.

More scientific research institutions and universities are open to the public, launching 8,461 science education activities in 2017.

Efforts to popularize science media in the media are becoming increasingly diverse. Besides the traditional media, science education websites, microblogs and public accounts in WeChat are getting more and more popular among netizens.