The Chinese regime finally has a Nobel Prize in the sciences, but the leadership and scientific community isn’t happy about it.
Tu Youyou, 84, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine on Oct. 5 by the Nobel Committee of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. She won alongside two other scientists, William C. Campbell of the United States, and Satoshi Omura of Japan.
In the 1970s, Tu found artemisinin, which has saved the lives of millions of malaria patients around the world over the last 40 years.
In China, however, her accomplishments are being criticized by her fellow scientists, state media, and Chinese authorities.
The reaction to Tu’s Nobel win relates in large part to the state-domination of the sciences in China, a system to which Tu is largely a stranger—making her win slightly awkward for the establishment.
Chinese media has not reacted well to Tu because of her humble background, and the fact that her win is embarrassing for the Chinese regime, said Chen Pokong, an author of several books on Chinese political culture.
In contrast, state media lauded Chinese writer Mo Yan for winning the Nobel Prize in literature in 2012, and heavily promoted the achievement.
Practically a Nobody
In a telephone interview, Chen told Epoch Times that Tu Youyou winning the Nobel left the Chinese authorities in an awkward position because she is not part of a system they endorse and promote—Tu is not an academician, derived her research not from Chinese science but from traditional Chinese medicine, and is practically a “nobody” from the people and not society’s elite.
