This chapter provides an overview of the Chinese national innovation system (NIS). It links the synthesis report and the thematic chapters and serves as an introduction to the latter, which treat in greater detail the development of the Chinese innovation system and the key policy issues highlighted in this chapter. It first gives a concise picture of the institutional setup of the China innovation system: the main actors, the governance structure, and policies and instruments for stimulating R&D and innovation. Next, it provides an overall assessment of China’s progress in building innovation capabilities, based on aggregate national statistics and international comparisons of some indicators. The following section summarises the main objectives and priorities of China’s Mediumand Long-term S&T Strategic Plan 2006-2020, and the policy instruments and measures to be used to achieve them. The discussion then turns to the key policy issues and how to address them in order to further develop the Chinese innovation system. A final section is devoted to summing up.