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The think-tank push in China

While China is a hot topic among US think tanks, think tanks are hot in China. And the force behind it is President Xi Jinping.

China has more than 400 think tanks, but only seven ranked among the top 100 worldwide in the 2014 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.

In October 2014, Xi issued a call for building of 'new think tanks with Chinese characteristics' at a meeting of the Leading Group for Overall Reform.

'It should be targeted on promoting scientific and democratic decision making, promoting modernization of the country's governing system and ability, as well as strengthening China's soft power,' he said.

Although think tanks in China are developing rapidly and making important contributions to reform and modernization, they have a hard time changing alongside rapid development. Currently, China lacks think tanks with great influence and international reputation, Xi said.

In responding to the government's call to build 50 to 100 high-end think tanks, existing think tanks have released reform and rebuilding plans, and new think tanks have mushroomed in China, writes Yanzhong Huang in China's Think-Tank Great Leap Forward, published on Sept 28 on the website of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

'As Professor Yan Xuetong of Tsinghua University observed, nowadays 'each unit is building a think tank, and all universities are building think tanks','wrote Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council and a professor and director of global health studies at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University.