Why so many Chinese clinical doctors are competing for basic research grants?

It has been puzzling me for a number of years that so many Chinese doctors in mainland are required to do research (1,2), and even more puzzling me is that so many they are required to apply for basic research grants. Particularly, grants from Natural Science Foundation of China which aim at promoting and financing basic research, is considered prestigious and highly sought after. The first puzzle can be answered that research and publications are esteem measures, even in second tier hospitals; the second emphasis is difficult to understand. Relevant to these questions, two studies have been recently conducted (3,4).