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While optimists see the ongoing International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Beijing as a sign that China is nearing the top of the global mathematics class, several leading mathematicians have expressed concern over the future of maths studies in the world's most populous nation.
"Chinese mathematical studies still lag far behind world-class level," said Shing-Tung Yau, a Chinese American with membership of both countries' national science academies.
A professor of mathematics at Harvard University, Yau is the only Chinese to win the prestigious Fields Medal Prize awarded to the world's top mathematicians.
Chen Mufa, a Chinese professor of mathematics who is scheduled to deliver an hour-long plenary lecture during the nine-day conference, echoed Yau's comments.
He conceded that Chinese maths studies currently lagged behind a number of countries including the United States, Germany, France, Japan, Russia and Canada.
After big names like Hua Luogeng and Chen Jingrun, China had hardly contributed any outstanding master mathematicians to world maths circles in the past two decades, said Wu Wenjun, a prominent member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences who is also chairman of the current ICM.
Some experts believe that in today's Chinese society, with people becoming increasingly pragmatic, basic sciences are losing their popularity and could face a bleak future without extra support from the government.
Professor Chen Mufa complained that he had been unable to recruit any doctoral candidate students for more than five years and it seemed that no one wanted a doctorate in mathematics.
"Actually those high school students who have got good results in their college admission examinations simply won't choose mathematics as their major, and most of the excellent college graduates studying mathematics will either go abroad or seek a career change," said Chen.
Professor Yau from Harvard said that weakened basic research would definitely harm China's global competitiveness.
"For example, the development of the information technology sector almost wholly depends on mathematics, and there will be no competitive IT sector without a high mathematics level," he added.
China's maths research is also plagued by problems like a shortage of funds and an outdated system for the appraisal of mathematicians' performances, say the scientists.
Currently the number of published academic essays was still a major factor in the evaluation of a Chinese mathematician's research achievements, they said.
Mathematicians, especially those from younger generations, should be freed from such a system and be encouraged to challenge the world's hardest mathematical problems, regardless of the final outcomes, they suggested.
"What's important now is not how many lectures our mathematicians will deliver at the ICM, but how can we boost China's maths studies and help them catch up with developed countries after the conference," said Shiing-shen Chern, renowned Chinese-American master mathematician.
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2002)
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