In 1950s, Bernard, a famous scientific sociologist, first described the phenomenon that "the main fields of scientific activities change with time" in his famous book Science in History. Since then, Tang Chaoyan, a famous Japanese historian of science, has made a quantitative analysis of relevant documents in the form of Chronology of Science, Technology and Culture, and obtained the concept of "the shift of the center of world scientific activities", and the corresponding historical phenomenon is called "Tang Chaoyan phenomenon".

"Shallow soup phenomenon" reveals the leap and imbalance of the world's scientific and technological development, that is, under certain social and historical conditions, some countries with relatively backward scientific and technological development have caught up with or even surpassed those with relatively developed science and technology in a short time, thus becoming the center of world scientific activities.

"Shallow soup phenomenon" is a famous topic in the history of science in the world. Together with "Needham problem", it is regarded as the content that needs to be deeply discussed in the study of contemporary history of science in China. Although both of them dissect the internal and external causes of scientific and technological development and discuss the source power of scientific and technological development, they are still different. The former pays attention to the alternate progress of science and technology in the world, while the latter pays more attention to the domestic factors of the rise of science and technology in China. With the rapid development of China's economy and society, especially from the perspective of globalization, it is the purpose and significance to analyze the internal and external conditions of China's scientific and technological development and promote the leap-forward development of China's scientific and technological undertakings.