中国国家主席习近平号召中国最杰出的优秀人才，要在科学技术领域做出更多突破，为此，数十亿元的资金投入到了高等教育中去。

Now, it seems that an increasing amount of that money is going into scientists' pockets. According to a new report by South China Morning Post, the ranks of millionaire scientists in China are growing rapidly.

而现在看起来，越来越大数额的钱进入了科学家们的腰包里。根据南华早报的一份最新报告显示，中国身价百万的科学家的数量正在迅速增长。

中国的新一代富豪是:高校中的科学家们!

A survey published in the scientific journal Nature concluded that university scientists in China made on average $40,000 a year in 2010, while their counterparts in the U.S. made double that amount. Now, the gap is vanishing.

一项发表在科学杂志《自然》上面的文章总结称，中国高校的科学家在2010年的人均收入是4万美元，而在美国，科学家的收入要多一倍，但是，现在差距正在变得越来越小。

"In major cities, more and more Chinese scientists are making as much as they can for the same position in the U.S.," a senior life scientist at Tsinghua University in Beijing told the SCMP.

北京清华大学的一名高级生命科学家接受南华早报采访时表示：“在中国各大主要城市，越来越多的中国科学家的收入已经和美国科学家持平了。”

Chinese professors with overseas experience get an average starting salary of about $120,000 a year, it added. Additionally, some university researchers can get a $100,000 bonus for each paper published by top academic journals.

南华早报补充称，有海外留学经验的中国教授起薪是每年12万美元。此外，在一些高校，如果论文发表在顶级学术期刊中，研究者还可获得10万美元左右的奖金。

There's also commercial potential in the scientists' research. A professor at Wuhan Institute of Technology in Hubei reportedly earned $2 million from selling ceramic coating technology to a company last year.

而一些科学家的研究中还有很多商业价值。据报道，武汉科技大学的一名教授在去年就通过出售陶瓷涂层技术获得了200万美元的收益。

These top earning scientists have, however, come under fire, with critics questioning whether their heart truly lay in science – or in their paychecks.

不过，这些顶级科学家还是受到了批评，很多批评者质疑他们是在专心做科研，还是在赚钱。