A report released yesterday shows the number of Chinese think tanks has grown rapidly in the world over the past year.

Seven Chinese think tanks were included among the world's top think tanks in the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report, published by the think tank and civil societies program at the Lauder Institute of University of Pennsylvania.

Selected from a list of over 175 top think tanks in the world, these seven think tanks are China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations; Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; China Institute of International Studies; Development Research Center of the State Council; Institute of International and Strategic Studies Peking University; Center for China and Globalization and Shanghai Institute for International Studies.

The report shows the United States at the top with the largest number of think tanks, at 1,872, while China holds second place with 512, followed by India with 444, and the UK with 311.

“Think tanks are 'smart factories' that can influence public policies, which I think is very important,” said Wang Huiyao, president of the Center for China and Globalization. “Think tanks are supposed to provide better ideas for the public and the making of public policy."

According to the report, five Chinese thinks tanks have made their mark on Think Tanks to Watch. They are the Center for China and Globalization, Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, China Center for International Economic Exchanges and Our Hong Kong Foundation.

Referred to as the "think tanks' think tank", the think tank and civil societies program at the Lauder Institute manages and supports a global network of close to 7,000 think tanks and trains future think tank scholars and executives.

The 2017 report shows continued expansion of think tanks in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and North Africa in the past 12 years, while the number of new think tanks in the US and Europe has declined.

Top think tanks worldwide