Tian-Yau Conflict

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The Tian-Yau conflict was a dispute concerning several Chinese mathematicians that took place between August and October 2005. It was largely conducted on the Web and the bulletin board systems (BBS) of tertiary education institutions in China.

The main parties to the dispute were Shing-Tung Yau (丘成桐), a 1982 Fields Medallist and a prominent Chinese American mathematician, and his student, the mathematician Gang Tian (田刚). The conflict raised issues concerning the academia in China, including academic corruption, ethical standards in academia, and the favourable conditions afforded to overseas Chinese scholars (e.g. Tian) by Chinese universities.

Contents 1 Chronology of events 2 Papers at the center of the dispute 3 See also 4 References

[edit] Chronology of events

• August 17, 2005: In an article on China View (Xinhua)^[1], and subsequently in an interview published by the Beijing Sci-Tech Report (北京科技报) on August 19, Yau criticized the academic corruption in China, and alleged that Tian committed plagiarism, without naming him directly: "A well-known Harvard professor (Yum-Tong Siu (蕭蔭堂)) told Yau that his student (Gang Tian) had plagiarized his paper, but, in trying to protect his young student, Yau did not pursue the matter. As a result, matters only went from bad to worse."^[2]

• August 20, 2005: The School of Mathematical Sciences at Peking University, where Tian has a position, responded with a systematic rebuttal of Yau's criticisms of its mathematics department. In its response, it also claimed that the allegation of plagiarism against Tian "distorted the truth".^[3]

• September 29, 2005: Yau revealed Tian's identity as the target of his criticism and repeated his allegations on the website of the Center for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Zhejiang, while alleging that Peking University had developed a corrupt academic environment. In an interview published there, he alleged that Tian owed much of his achievements to Yau. He also claimed that Tian had low ethical standards, and that Tian was suspected of fabrication and misappropriation of the work of others. In support of this, Yau apparently produced to the interviewer a letter detailing the complaint, allegedly written by Siu, as evidence that Tian plagiarized Siu's work.^[4]

• October 1, 2005: An article by one "Tang Shiqi" (唐十七) appeared online, rebuffing Yau's criticisms and making allegations about Yau's own academic ethics.^[5]

• October 4-6, 2005: More articles appeared online, this time by another netizen, "Tiandi Zhengqi" (天地正气). Among the allegations directed at Yau were: prejudice, a strong hunger for power, a bullying attitude, a desire to claim academic priorities over others, and self-promotion.^[6][7][8]

• October 6-8, 2005: Jun Li^[9], Jiaxing Hong^[10]，Huai-Dong Cao, Fangyang Zheng, Lizhen Ji, Kefeng Liu and others^[11], as well as Sen Hu^[12], reportedly wrote statements, which were posted online, in support of Yau.

• October 12, 2005: Yau apparently responded to his online critics in a joint statement, again posted online, with a Mr Shaoyuan Zheng. ^[13]

• October 13, 2005
  • Jinpeng An, a PhD student of the School of Mathematical Sciences at Peking University, defended Tian against an allegation (but one that did not apparently originate from Yau).^[14]
  • Jie Qing, a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, apparently posted online, through an intermediary, a statement of clarification, which apparently explained that his paper with Tian did not plagiarize from Yau's work.^[15]

• October 16, 2005: At a gathering in Peking University, apparently to discuss the Tian-Yau conflict, Weiyue Ding (a professor from Peking University) and Wu-Yi Hsiang (professor emeritus of the University of California, Berkeley, currently professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and adjunct professor of Peking University) reportedly made further allegations against Yau. The reference cited is to a purported transcript of the gathering, which was posted online ^[16]

• October 17, 2005: Siu, the Harvard professor, posted scanned copies of some letters on his website, apparently in response to the criticisms of Ding and Hsiang. In the Chinese message posted on the same website, he urged both sides of the dispute to stop their attacks on each other.^[17]

[edit] Papers at the center of the dispute

1. Siu, Yum Tong. The existence of Kähler-Einstein metrics on manifolds with positive anticanonical line bundle and a suitable finite symmetry group. Ann. of Math. (2) 127 (1988), no. 3, 585-627.
2. Tian, Gang. On Kähler-Einstein metrics on certain Kähler manifolds with C₁(M) > 0. Invent. Math. 89 (1987), no. 2, 225-246.
3. Tian, Gang, and Yau, Shing-Tung. Kähler-Einstein metrics on complex surfaces with C₁(M) > 0. Comm. Math. Phys. 112 (1987), no. 1, 175-203.

[edit] See also

• Gang Tian
• Manifold destiny, The New Yorker article by Sylvia Nasar and David Gruber, which had a mention of this conflict.
• http://www.doctoryau.com/, Shing-Tung Yau's official site in response to this event.
• Shing-Tung Yau

[edit] References

Much of the content of this article comes from the Mandarin wikipedia article. A duplication of one reference was removed, and an additional English-language reference was added.

1. ^ Famous scientist slams academic corruption in China, China View (Xinhua), 17 August 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-29.
2. ^ Yau: China's current education system cannot produce first-rate talents. (Chinese title: 丘成桐：中国目前教育不可能出一流人才)
3. ^ "The Yau bombshell": An investigation of the truth behind the report (Chinese title: "丘成桐炮轰"一文真相调查)
4. ^ Yau clarifies the truth of the matter regarding Peking University (Chinese title: 丘成桐院士澄清有关北大的某些事实真相)
5. ^ Tang Seventeen: Also on "the truth of the matter" (Chinese title: 唐十七：也谈“事实真相”)
6. ^ Yau Shing-Tung and "academic corruption" I (Chinese title: 丘成桐与“学术腐败”(1))
7. ^ Yau Shing-Tung and "academic corruption" II (Chinese title: 丘成桐与“学术腐败”(2))
8. ^ Yau Shing-Tung and "academic corruption" III (Chinese title: 丘成桐与“学术腐败”(3))
9. ^ One thing I knew (Chinese title: 我所知道的一件事)
10. ^ Give me some peace (Chinese title: 还我一片安宁)
11. ^ Statement by Huai-Dong Cao, Fangyang Zheng, Jun Li, Lizhen Ji, and Kefeng Liu (Chinese title: 曹怀东，郑方阳，李骏，季立真，刘克峰的声明)
12. ^ Statement by Sen Hu (Chinese title: 胡森声明)
13. ^ Statement by Shing-Tung Yau and Mr Shaoyuan Zheng (Chinese title: 丘成桐，郑绍远先生声明)
14. ^ Jinpeng An: On Teacher Tian Gang and an explanation of an event concerning myself (Chinese title: 安金鹏: 关于田刚老师和我的一件事的说明)
15. ^ Statement of clarification by Jie Qing and Gang Tian (Chinese title: 庆杰和田刚的澄清说明)
16. ^ Transcript: Peking University dons Ding and Hsiang lambast Yau (Chinese title: 北大教授丁伟岳项武义炮轰丘成桐讲话实录)
17. ^ After reading Xiang Wuyi's speech at Peking University (Chinese title: 讀項武義先生北大講話記錄後)