Since the 1950s, local actors, scientists and China’s party-state have experimented with controlling the weather, while navigating hopes and conflicts invoked by its uncertain success. Until recently, it was mainly sub-national efforts in which different technologies are employed to optimize local weather conditions. In 2020, the central government doubled down and formulated the national ambition to service 5.5 million square kilometers with precipitation enhancement by 2025 and build a world class ‘weather modification system’ by 2035. This step of integrating weather modification into a national system happened despite manifold unanswered research questions and recent domestic controversy around weather modification at scale. I suggest weather modification in China to be a curious case of ecological modernization employed at scale despite persistent uncertainties around its material impact. The national reorganization and coordination further warrant revisiting questions raised in climate engineering debates.