Hong Kong’s Ming Pao published a commentary on Monday, pointing out that Chinese mathematicians Deng Yu and Wang Hong, who currently teach overseas, recently received the Fields Medal. However, this has sparked controversy within China, and due to the prevalence of nationalist sentiment on the Chinese internet, Peking University’s School of Mathematics recently deleted some interview content with Deng Yu.
Ming Pao noted that when Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature and Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, they were congratulated by then-Politburo Standing Committee member Li Changchun and Premier Li Keqiang. The Fields Medal is also known as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics,” yet this time, in public reports, there has been no congratulations from China’s central leaders to the two young mathematicians. The article speculates this is because both are teaching overseas.
The article notes that the awards to Wang Hong and Deng Yu have also sparked debate in China. Some are genuinely delighted, feeling moved that young Chinese mathematicians have reached the pinnacle of global mathematics. Others are more doubtful, questioning why such academic breakthroughs occurred overseas. Some even claim their awards are unrelated to Chinese universities’ education, asserting that their achievements are results of their studies abroad.
The article quotes a Beijing News commentary, suggesting that there is no need to stoke division with Wang Hong and Deng Yu’s awards. As mathematician Shing-Tung Yau said: “Wang Hong and Deng Yu received solid foundational education in China and completed outstanding research work overseas. This is a relay and an exchange, not a competition of who replaces whom or who overwhelms whom.”
It is noted that after winning the award, Deng Yu was interviewed by the mathematics department’s WeChat public account. When asked whether students should go abroad to further their studies, he replied: “There is no single answer suitable for everyone regarding whether to go abroad or where to work long-term. If conditions permit, I recommend having at least one relatively complete overseas experience during your academic career.”
He also said, “Such an experience usually makes a person’s horizons broader. As for whether to work abroad or to return to develop in China afterwards, I think both are completely possible.”
The article says that when the mathematics department’s WeChat public account later reposted Deng Yu’s interview, this Q&A was deliberately deleted, attracting considerable attention. Some analysts believe that currently, online nationalist sentiment is pervasive, and some people equate studying abroad with being unpatriotic. Peking University’s move is, therefore, a “helpless measure to avoid public controversy.”