From The Non-violent Resistence blog: (All links in Chinese unless otherwise specified. )
A hot debate going on in Chinese journalists’ circles these days: a prominent Chinese scientist lashes out against one Southern People Weekly (same family as the once-celebrated, now half-dead Southern Weekend) reporter who did a four-hour interview with him and wrote her story. (many thanks to Reporters’ Home BBS)
A little background on the scientist first: He Zuoxiu, 78, a theoretical physicist and academician at the Chinese Academy of Science, is no stranger to controversy. He first made his name outside the world of atoms in the late 1990s, by speaking up boldly against one certain cult (naming which would get my blog blocked in my home country, and screw me if I get into all that debate about who’s good and who’s evil) long before it was declared illegal by the authorities. Remember, that was when that group still enjoyed political support from a lot of retired Mandarins. For that he won the respect of lots intellectuals and journalists, and hatred and vicious attacks from another much bigger group of people. The specific merits and politics of that debate aside, Mr. He certainly hasn’t slept on that victory. He has thrust himself in the forefront of lots of other, sometimes not-straight-science debates in recent years, from the environmental impacts of the Nu river dam (English link) to the role of Marxism in directing research progress in physics (?!), to the root of the misfortunes of Chinese miners, which the above-mentioned story dealt with. Public and journalistic response to these debates is far more divided than to the previous one, and today’s He Zuoxiu has many more fans and detractors than ever.
