How do we know if a field in China is strong or weak (relative to other nations)?
Here, let’s exclude those fields that we Chinese dominate, such as Chinese medicine, Kung Fu, Mahjong, etc.
I would go check out the publication record of a few "well-known" scientists in this field, say a full professor at a university or an Academician at a research institute. Does he have a strong record in terms of publishing in international journals (forget about SCI, which I never heard of until a few years ago, thanks to its new status in China). It does not have to be Nature or Science, just JPO (J. Physical Oceanography) and JGR-Ocean (J. Geophysical Res.) if we are talking about PO (hey, I am a physical oceanographer).
Some fields are new in China, so even if the government is pouring in loads of RMB, it still takes time to build the field. Rome was not built in one day, neither is a solid scientific field in China