Since 2010, China has become the second biggest publisher of scientific research papers in the world, but remains far behind the global leadership with regards to the ability of creative innovation. Just like its economy, Chinese science is at a turning point, and the key is to avoid the “Middle-income trap”. Instead of blindly going after quantity of SCI publications, Earth science in China is to address major scientific problems and to perform transition to a new level of innovative researches. This is a written speech to the 4^th Conference on Earth System Science,Shanghai.