The paper recalls the introduction of the idea of public understanding of science to China in 1990s and the different opinions about the suitability of the model in the particular social situation of China. It also explores the conceptualization of public scientific literacy and the 5 studies of the Chinese Public's Scientific Literacy commenced from the beginning of 1990s with modified version of the questionnaire constructed by Jon Miller and, the author suggests a reform plan with the idea of reconstructing a new questionnaire based on fully probe studies beforehand and conducting both quantitative and qualitative surveys according to complexity of Chinese society.

public understanding of science  /  conceptualization of science literacy  /  reconstruction of questionnaire  /  chinese social system