As in so many other things, China's seeking to play a leading role in 21st century science. And it's using a familiar weapon: money.

Last month, Chinese physicists announced that they'd completed the initial design for a massive high-energy particle collider, which could become operational around 2025. The project — which may cost $3 billion and stretch for more than 60 miles — is just the latest in a string of Chinese "big science" initiatives designed to boost national prestige and produce lucrative spinoff technologies. At a time when money for basic research is increasingly difficult to obtain in the United States and Europe, China sees an opportunity to seize the global scientific vanguard.

The regime isn't wrong to try, and the cause of human knowledge will benefit from any breakthroughs that result. But if China's truly going to reap a return on its eye-popping investments, the government needs to do something harder than build a giant particle smasher: It needs to rethink its central role in Chinese research.