Abstract
China's rapid growth in scientific R&D in recent years provides solid evidence for the country's innovation-driven development strategy, but also puts increasing demand on open access (OA) to publicly funded research results. This article looks at ways in which the Chinese government, funders, research and library communities are all rising to this challenge, and at future challenges still to be met. As a major scientific publishing country with its estimated 5,000 STM journals, China's place in the international OA publishing scene is considered in detail, with the author concluding that he believes open access to publicly funded research in China will soon become the accepted norm, as all levels of scientific policymakers fulfil their political, professional and international responsibilities, to the benefit of Chinese research and society.