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Trending Xi Jinping (/topics/xi-jinping) Xi Jinping's anti-graft campaign (/topics/xi-jinpings-anti-graft-campaign) Chart Book (/topics/chart-book) Yuan (/topics/yuan) › COMMENT INSIGHT & OPINION For China, Nobel Prize in science is still a big leap away Cong Cao says the obstacles that stand in the way of a Chinese national winning a Nobel Prize in the sciences are only too real, notwithstanding Beijing's dream of glory
Cong Cao PUBLISHED : Friday, 18 October, 2013, 7:58pm UPDATED : Saturday, 19 October, 2013, 2:32am
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0 8 Beijing's crackdown on English teachers The Chinese government craves a home-grown scientist to win a Nobel science prize. vital to protect pupils (http://scmp.com /comment/insight-opinion/article/1599006 For one week every October, a serious bout of anxiety grips China. But it is /beijings-crackdown-english-teachers-vital- not purely down to nervousness over which prominent dissident is in the Print (http://www.scmp.com protect-pupils) running for the Nobel Peace Prize, awarded to the Dalai Lama in 1989 and Liu /print/comment/insight-opinion/article Xiaobo in 2010. Whatever Beijing does, 'one country, two systems' must be preserved Rather, it reflects the Chinese government's unsated craving for a (http://scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion home-grown scientist to win a Nobel science prize; cast-iron proof of technological power to match its economic might and a reassertion of its /article/1599002/whatever-beijing-does-one- capacity for innovation, first demonstrated by the so-called "Four Great country-two-systems-must-be) Inventions" of ancient China: the compass, printing, gunpowder and papermaking. This time, unlike 2003 and 2012, history may not repeat itself This year, though, the trophy cabinet again lies empty. China has resorted to (http://scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion celebration by association. One of the Nobel Prize winners for medicine, /article/1598268/time-unlike-2003-and- announced last week, is Thomas Südhof, a professor of molecular and cellular 2012-history-may-not-repeat-itself) physiology at Stanford University School of Medicine and husband to Chen Lu, a high-profile Chinese neuroscientist. The University of Science and No excuse for media payments Technology of China, Chen's alma mater, enthusiasti-cally cheered a Chinese son-in-law and, in this way, China is at least related to the honour. (http://scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion /article/1589568/no-excuses-media-payments- It is a familiar tactic. In 2008, an excitable Chinese media celebrated the any-society) chemistry prize of Roger Y. Tsien, an American citizen born in the US but also a nephew of Qian Xuesen, known as the "father" of China's space programme.
Ethnic Chinese do feature among China's Nobel laureates for science. But the We recommend glaring fact is that not one is a product of the education system of Communist NEWS Party-led China. Rare ‘stone man syndrome’ turning Winners of the physics prize in 1957, Chen Ning Yang and Tsung-Dao Lee Chinese teenager's body held passports issued by the Kuomintang government, which was overthrown to bone by the Communist Party in 1949. They both attended the National 23 Sep 2014 Southwestern Associated University, an institution formed during the second world war by an amalgamation of Peking, Tsinghua and Nankai universities in (http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1598672 Kunming , Yunnan province, before moving to the US. /rare-stone-man-syndrome-causing-chinese-teenagers- body-turn-bone) Samuel Chao Chung Ting (physics, 1976), Yuan Tseh Lee (chemistry, 1986), NEWS Daniel Chee Tsui (physics, 1998) and Charles K. Kao (physics, 2009) all Back on track: Chinese moved to either the US or Britain after completing their high school, or even star hurdler Liu Xiang their undergraduate and part of their postgraduate education, in Taiwan or rumoured to have… Hong Kong. Steven Chu (physics, 1997), like Roger Tsien, is a product of the 09 Sep 2014
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American education system. (http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1588735/back-track- Crucially, all established themselves in the US or Britain, where they found chinese-star-hurdler-liu-xiang-rumoured-have-married- greater freedom to choose research projects, a rich academic atmosphere shanghai) and sophisticated lab facilities. NEWS 'It's the end of an era': In recent years, Chen Ning Yang has repeatedly lamented the possibility that Hong Kong force will mainland China will not receive a Nobel Prize in science for 20 years. In the have fewest expat week leading up to this year's prize announcements, Huang Wei, president of cops… Nanjing University of Technology, confidently predicted that winning Nobel 30 Aug 2014 Prizes in sciences would be standard practice for Chinese in 10 years. (http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1581967 Both crystal balls are clouded by optimism. At this rate, even 20 years is /its-end-era-hong-kong-force-see-first-time-drop-expat- unlikely. None of China's recent scientific feats have come close to prize- policemen) winning status and there is little of note on the horizon. NEWS Ex-Guangzhou vice Fifteen years ago, some of China's leading scientists told me that ethnic mayor paid mistress Chinese scientists born on the mainland, who left for the West soon after HK$17 million in Deng Xiaoping ushered in the open-door policy, would soon be winning Nobel ‘break-up fees’ Prizes in science. If this did happen, they said, it would represent a 18 Sep 2014 humiliation; evidence of the benefits of abandoning China to advance a career
overseas and fulfil one's true potential. (http://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1595435 /ex-guangzhou-vice-mayor-paid-mistress-hk17-million- This vision has yet to come to fruition. Professor Zheng Yefu, a sociologist at Tsinghua University in Beijing, has offered up some bold reasoning. He break-fees) COMMENT argued that no matter where you study - Harvard, Yale, Oxford or Cambridge - Letters to the Editor, you have no chance of winning a Nobel Prize for science if you spend your September 23, 2014 first 12 years in a Chinese school: your individuality, curiosity, imagination and creativity will simply have been destroyed by the Chinese education system.
23 Sep 2014 It is also a system that binds students to their mentors. A mentor is an authority figure as formidable as a strict father, and to challenge him is (http://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/1598296/letters- unacceptable. This loyalty discourages criticism of seniors and has proved to editor-september-23-2014) be a major handicap. COMMENT Tourists need manners Furthermore, mainland Chinese scientists have not had time to establish a reminder tradition of research excellence and generate Nobel Prize-winning momentum. Many Nobel laureates teach and nurture students who go on to
become laureates themselves. Südhof used to study with two Nobel laureates 26 Aug 2014 in physiology/medicine.
(http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article The past generation of Chinese scientists, including some who studied with /1580682/tourists-need-gentle-reminder-about-good-manners) laureates abroad, may well have turned out a new crop of scientists had they COMMENT not been burdened by domestic political traumas stretching from the 1930s to The rule of thirds: New the 1970s. Only in the past 35 years have Chinese scientists been able to evidence of the Chinese focus their whole attention on research. It will take time for their efforts to role in Vancouver’s… produce world-class scientific achievements. 27 Aug 2014 Another obstacle is the paucity of excellent Chinese scientists; they are so few
in number that they are likely to be transferred from research to administrative (http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1581034/rule- posts. thirds-new-evidence-mainland-chinese-role-vancouvers- housing) Confucian doctrine teaches that "a good scholar will make an official" and BUSINESS some of the best scientists, knowing that they can in this way secure scarce The Stanley car park resources, are more than willing to leave their labs. The downside comes plan is madness and when they become buried in administrative tasks. should be stopped
The lack of dynamism in the research environment discourages Chinese 05 Sep 2014 scientists who have been successful abroad from returning home. Chen Ning Yang has said that he probably would not have won the Nobel Prize if he had (http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1585357/stanley- returned to China in the early 1950s. car-park-plan-madness-and-should-be-stopped) COMMENT The quest to produce a home-grown Nobel Prize for science has become Hong Kong society must entwined in China's resurgent nationalism. unite against discrimination Having hosted a glittering Olympic Games and taken its astronauts into space, China sees a triumph on the global scientific stage as a way to convince the 04 Sep 2014 world that it has moved from the periphery to the centre.
But winning a Nobel Prize is completely different from winning an Olympic (http://www.scmp.com/comment/article/1584984/hong- gold. Until the creation of an environment conducive to first-rate research and kong-society-must-unite-against-discrimination) LIFESTYLE nurturing talent, which cannot be achieved through top-down planning, REVIEW: Thinking of mobilisation and concentration of resources (the hallmarks of China's state- upgrading to an iPhone sponsored sports programme), this Nobel pursuit will continue to vex the 6? Trust me, it's worth… Chinese for many years to come.
17 Sep 2014 Cong Cao is an associate professor and reader at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Nottingham (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/technology/article/1594500 /review-thinking-upgrading-iphone-6-trust-me-its-worth-wait) BUSINESS This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as No, it wouldn’t make Scientific pursuit any difference
22 Sep 2014
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2 of 6 24/09/14 21:58 For China, Nobel Prize in science is still a big leap away | South... http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1334631/...
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09 Sep 2014 ALL COMMENTS (/COMMENT/INSIGHT-OPINION/ARTICLE/1334631/CHINA-NOBEL-PRIZE-SCIENCE-STILL-BIG-LEAP-AWAY#COMMENTS 8 MOST RECOMMENDED (/COMMENT/INSIGHT-OPINION/ARTICLE/1334631/CHINA-NOBEL-PRIZE-SCIENCE-STILL-BIG-LEAP-AWAY?COMMENT-SORT=(http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article /1587828/hong-kong-mothers-find-success-writing-childrens- This article is now closed to comments books) BUSINESS Hollander323 Hollander323 Rumbling PLA carriers Oct 19th 2013 in Hong Kong set minds 3:00pm rolling Progression in sciences needs to be step by step, you either build them on other people's platform or build on your own. Chinese are late comers in scientific technology developments, they have been importing, transferring a lot 01 Sep 2014 from the West in the past. The huge production bases now set up in China would help in the building up of these platforms. Sciences needs a market to flourish and to help it to be recognized as a "award winner". Decades ago (http://www.scmp.com/business/article/1582406/rumbling- Charles Kao invented optical fiber for high speed and high volume data communication, it took more than 40 years pla-carriers-hong-kong-set-minds-rolling) for his ingenuity to be recognized with a Noble prize. Now China is in possession of the required industrial, academic LIFESTYLE Home and cultural and technological environments, I am pretty sure that we will see quite some award winning scientists from China in identity difficult to the near future. China is undergoing structural changes in many ways, not just the economic and finances, but also pinpoint for third- their science research and developments. This kind of progression is just natural, I will have no surprise the day culture… when they come about. 01 Sep 2014
jenniepc jenniepc (http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/family-education/article Oct 19th 2013 /1582965/home-and-cultural-identity-difficult-pinpoint-third) 10:53am Recommended by (#) China current technology behind is due to China had been torn apart, then occupied, by then supper-power of Western European and Japan, civil war, and Cultural Revolution. China will eventually catch up with western countries. However, this Noble Prize, it seems to me, has been politicized by those good old boys, Norwegian Noble committees. Mr. Liu Xiaobo or President Obama is very good examples. First, HUMAN RIGHT is more related to people’s right been abused by unlawful detention without the due process of law which should be an exercise of the powers of the government as the settled maxims of law permit and sanction, and under such safeguards for the protection of individual rights. Where-as, the PEACE is the tranquility enjoyed by political society internally, by the good order which reigns among its members, and externally by the good understanding it has with all other nations. Liu Xiaobo does not have any followers to exert control over his members for political tranquility of the society that is an element of internal peace an essential requisite. you tell me what is wrong with those Norwegian Noble committees, it is a provincially minded hypocrite. Noble prize suppose to be a noble yet those Norwegian Noble committees do make the Noble prize a kind of joke. if human right has nothing to do with peace, then, what it is a purpose of Norwegian Nobel Committees gave Nobel peace to Mr. Liu , as a tool to destabilize Chinese society. Jennie PC Chiang/江佩珍
johnyuan johnyuan Oct 19th 2013 10:43am 1. Confucianism is an ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, said in the Wikipedia. My observation is that the ethical system is one of dividing people into distinctive groups of people which then through set rules reunited them so as to function as one society. The system was welcome by rulers understandably and well integrated into the daily life throughout Chinese culture for a society in harmony until the system deteriorated for renewal. In this cyclical of hope and despair, success and failure, the continuity of a culture lies in the contradiction of good comes from evil and vise versa that the stability for society is uninsured but subject to the progress of time. A closer look we will find that the temporary harmony in fact comes out from control. The divide and conquer facilitate control of people. ……. Science just can’t flourish in a culture that must go through unstable time and people must be controlled. Science requires unspecified time in research and control only of things and not people. So no Nobel Prize in science for Confucius students is not a coincidence.
jd.salinger.3154 jd.salinger.3154 Oct 19th 2013 3:31pm I am not going to act like a phony and pretend that I know anything about this guy Confucius, but I Promotions (/promotions) once picked up a chapter in which he talked about what it means to go on a path of great learning, it makes a lot of sense to me. For if one has a love of knowledge, he cares not for any prize. Kerry Wines (/promotion/1590235/scmp- Portfolio Tasting and-rthk-present-hong-kongs- johnyuan top-story-2014) johnyuan (/winetasting2014) Oct 19th 2013 SCMP and RTHK 5:59pm present Hong jd..... Kong's Top Story Great idea from Confucius and your knowledge gained from reading it. All Chinese, student of this guy's teaching all live happily ever after as 'knowlegeble' people and nation. Of course the fact is 2014 (/promotion far from this proposition. The Nobel prize of course is not the object of learning even to the /1590235/scmp-
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