Not long ago, the "Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Selected 2024 China/World Top Ten Science and Technology Progress News" hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering was announced in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. Among them, the basic research achievement of "Chinese scientists observing the graviton mode in condensed matter for the first time in the world" was selected, demonstrating the country's long-term emphasis on basic research, key attention to cutting-edge science, and strong support for original innovation. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized that "basic research is at the starting point of the scientific research chain from research to application, and then to production. Only with a solid foundation can the science and technology industry be built high." At the end of 2024, institutions such as the Institute of Science and Technology Strategy Consulting of the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly released the "2024 Research Frontiers" report and the "2024 Research Frontiers Heat Index" report, demonstrating the level of activity and leadership in the forefront of national basic research, providing a perspective for observing the development of basic research in China. The report shows that in recent years, the level of basic research in China has significantly improved. From the perspective of basic research strength, the gap between China and the United States in terms of research frontier popularity and growth rate has significantly narrowed. In terms of sub fields, China will demonstrate strong competitiveness in four areas in 2024: agricultural science, chemistry and materials science, physics, and information science; It has shown a steady improvement trend in the fields of clinical medicine, astronomy, and astrophysics. From the perspective of leadership, the leading role of basic research in China is constantly increasing, especially in key fields such as chemistry and materials science, agricultural science, physics, and information science, where its position is steadily improving. China's remarkable achievements in the forefront of basic research cannot be separated from the continuous promotion of technological system reform in recent years. The deepening of reforms in areas such as talent evaluation, achievement evaluation, and fund management has stimulated the vitality of basic research. For example, basic research has a long investment cycle and high research difficulty, which requires stable and sustained funding support. Implementing the "Several Opinions on Strengthening Basic Scientific Research in an All round Way", establishing a diversified investment mechanism for basic research, and exploring funding sources for basic research are conducive to meeting the long-term funding needs of basic research. To shape an innovative ecosystem conducive to basic research, it is necessary to deepen the reform of the basic research system and mechanism, and give full play to the value driven and strategic leading role of institutions and policies. Strengthening basic research ultimately depends on high-level talents. On the whole, China's talent strategy has achieved remarkable results, but compared with the world's scientific and technological powers, China's scientific and technological talent team has prominent structural contradictions, and strategic scientists, high-level basic research talents and key core technology research talents are still lacking. In terms of most basic research and key common technologies in artificial intelligence, information science, life science and other fields, China's talent pool is still insufficient. To fundamentally optimize the talent structure, it is necessary to adhere to the equal emphasis on introduction and training, vigorously cultivate and use strategic scientists, support young scientific and technological talents to take on important responsibilities, actively introduce outstanding overseas talents, and continuously strengthen the leading scientific and technological talent team and first-class innovation team. Promoting the development of basic research also requires high-level technological openness and cooperation. The dialectical unity and parallel development of high-level technological self-reliance and high-level technological openness and cooperation. Persisting in expanding international exchanges and cooperation in basic research with more open thinking and measures, building an international platform for basic research cooperation, and expanding and deepening joint scientific research around the challenges of human common development, can create an open innovation ecosystem with global competitiveness, attract global innovation elements and top talents, and make new and greater contributions to the progress of human civilization with more major original innovations. At present, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is advancing rapidly, the paradigm of scientific research is undergoing profound changes, the transformation cycle of basic research is significantly shortened, and international scientific and technological competition is moving towards the forefront of foundation. Riding on the momentum, continuing to delve deeper, and doing basic research with the endurance of sitting on the bench, can achieve the achievement of "doing nothing" and "doing everything", and support high-level technological self-reliance and self-improvement with leading basic research. (Zhang Feng, the author, is the former vice president and researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Science and Technology Strategy Consulting Institute.)