Borrowing the expression from mathuser who allegedly has authored well cited math articles(see below), I would say I am neither a mathematician nor a member of Yau's school nor am I from PKU or Tsinghua.

But I am a Chinese.

Although I am quite aware that Yau is a big mouth, I don't think Yau deserve personal attack of this kind.

With certain confidence, I opine that most of us here would admit that the whole picture (not the details) of "academic corruption" in mainland China as painted by Yau is at least a realistic one, if the true situation is not worse.

In this regard, I don't care whether Yau has his own personal ambition and would also deem it irrelevant to this discussion.

I could do noting but at least I can translate the below text and post and circulate it here.

Original text retrieved from
http://boards.newyorker.com/thread.jspa?threadID=736&tstart=0

对丘成桐的攻击，就如同重演捉女巫的闹剧（这么个翻法，已经很客气了）

亲爱的Nasar女士，

我既不是几何学者，也不是丘先生所在学校的成员，同时也不是中国人。我对您所著的“美丽心灵”一书，深怀景仰，那本书写得非常迷人。

但对您在纽约客上撰写的关于庞加莱猜想的文章，我深感震惊。

您与那些促成此文面世的数学圈子内的某些人，已对数学这个高尚的研究领域，造成了伤害。而您自己，则损害了您在那些严肃数学家心中的声誉。您的文章，庸俗而缺乏品味。它简直就是最恶劣的小报新闻的笔法，而绝非我们所预期的来自哥伦比亚大学的新闻笔法。

使我震惊的是，您心甘情愿地欣然充当某些有势力的小帮派的马前卒，而这些有势力的小帮派，似乎与邱先生素有积怨，且欲除之而后快。就最低要求而言，为平衡您的观点，对于丘先生（也就是你文章中所描绘的“恶人”）的看法，您至少应该引用支持和反对双方的观点。而您未能做到这一点。那些与庞加莱猜想和拓扑学毫不相关的反对丘先生的人的话，您慷慨地大段引用，而那些可能对此持不同看法的人的话，则或是不见踪影，或是匆匆带过，语焉不详。难道如此不公平，不均衡的新闻报道方式，就是今日新闻学院所传授的报道新闻的方式吗？

作为数学界的一员，我本人已是若干高引用率文章的作者，对于统治数学界若干领域的那些个小帮派，我深有体会。我知道，在那些被您文章引用过的人中间，至少有两位，也曾玩过和您文中描述相类似的把戏，而这一次，您则是将丘先生描绘成那个玩弄把戏的人。关于这些，在数学家中已有广泛的讨论。我想说的是，尽管非常令人遗憾，但在任何领域的智力角逐中，都不难发现类似的情形。但像您和您的英雄们这样，在一个高度公众化的论坛上，傲慢地作此类断言来反对丘先生，直可称得上是政治迫害（witch hunt）。而我一直以为，塞勒姆村捉女巫的时代早已过去了。

您是一个记者，写耸人听闻的文章是您谋稻粱的方式，对于这点，我在一定程度上可以理解。毕竟，不可能人人都像也在纽约客上发表文章的Sy Hersh那样，都来作研究式的报道。在第一流的数学杂志上，可能同时出现不入流和第一流的文章，看来，纽约客也有类似情况。我所不理解的是，为何我们的某些数学同行，如此公然地用刻毒的语言来攻击丘先生。我们中间的某些人，对此甚为震惊！我已经见过一些私下里流传的电子邮件，其中一些人，收回了他们的话，且至少有一个人，已经对自己的话进行了澄清。比方说，当代最出色的几何学家之一，一位史坦福大学的教授，甚至说，如果对丘先生的遭遇发生在他身上，他就立刻给律师打电话。事实上，您的文章简直就是诬蔑诽谤。我想知道，为何纽约客不发表一下这类信件？现在，也许该讨论一下新闻报道中是否存在偏袒一方的现象了。

再作最后一个评论：那些攻击丘先生的人，他们在数学上与丘先生相比，简直就是侏儒。丘先生是这个时代，乃至历史上最伟大的几何学家之一，而我们其他人，则应该抛开我们的妒嫉心，克服Stroock教授（麻省理工）已向我们生动描述过的那种“蟹桶综合症”。这也是与我交谈的数位数学家的共同感受。

也许某一天，我们会在某个鸡尾酒会上碰面，那时，我会试图更深入探究您撰写此文的真实动机。我猜想，您写此文，该不会仅仅是为了在您的简历上再添加一笔？您的文章，止不住让人闻到是有反丘势力在后鼓噪的意味，虽然这些人，甚至胆怯到不敢留下痕迹。换句话说，他们深深卷入此事，但他们的话，却甚至未在您的文中被引用。

Nasar女士，祝您今天过得好！找灵感时，您该好好想想Sy Hersh 而不是Jerry Springer。

Mathuser

Witch hunt of S. T. Yau!
Posted: Sep 13, 2006 5:12 PM
Dear Ms Nasar,
I am neither a geometer nor a member of Yau's school nor am I Chinese! I am a deep admirer of your lovely book " A beautiful mind."
I was shocked by your article in the New Yorker about the Poincare conjecture.
You and some members of the mathematical community who have taken this public have done a disservice to the noble field of mathematics. You have seriously damaged your own reputation among serious mathematicians. Your article was vulgar and in poor taste. It was tabloid journalism at its worst and not the kind of journalism that one expects from Columbia.
What amazes me here is the way you have acted as a willing and gleeful pawn in the hands of members of various power cliques who seem to have an agenda and grouse against Yau. At the very least you should have been balanced in asking for quotes for and against your "villain", you have done none of it. Actors who have nothing to do with the Poincare conjecture or topology and who have anti-Yau views are generously quoted and those who might have given a differing opinion are quoted not at all or else curtly dismissed between brackets. Is this what they teach in journalism school these days, to be unfair and unbalanced?
Being a member of the mathematical community who has authored well cited articles, I am well aware of the cliques that rule various fields of mathematics. I have been told that atleast two of the quoted people in your article have also played similar games that you attribute to Yau and it is quite well discussed amongst us. The point is these are all part of the game in any field of intellectual endeavor, howevere unfortunate this may all be. But to pompously assert in a very public forum, as you and your heroes have done, and to go after Yau with this kind of a zeal is nothing short of a witch hunt. I had always thought Salem days are long gone by!!
You are a journalist and it is your bread and butter to write sensational articles for your living, I can understand this to some extent. After all, we cannot all be like Sy Hersh doing deep research journalism, some of which appears in the same New Yorker. Like first rate mathematical journals where nth rate to first rate articles appear so it seems with the New Yorker. But I do not understand the venom spewed on Yau in a such a public way by fellow mathematicians. Some of us are quite amazed at this! I have seen private e-mails where some of them have recanted and at least one has given a brilliant clarification. For instance, one of the leading geometers of our time from Stanford has even said that if he were treated as Yau has been, he would have been on the phone with his lawyer. Your article is libelous, in fact! Why has new Yorker not published any such letters? Talk about cronisym in journalism!
To make a final observation: the people who have railed against Yau are mathematical dwarfs compared to him. He is one of the greatest geometers of our times and all times and the rest of us should get out of our little jealousies and get over what Stroock (of MIT) eloquently terms "crab bucket syndrome." This is the common take I got from several mathematicians who I spoke with.
One of these days, we might even meet in one of the cocktail circuits, I will try to find out more about your real motivation for writing this article. Is it possible that the article is more then to pump your resume? It sure smells of being instigated by forces hostile to Yau, but who are cowardly enough not to leave their fingerprints? In other words, they are not even quoted in the article but are still quite involved!
Have a good day Ms Nasar! Try to think of Sy Hersh for inspiration not Jerry Springer!
Message was edited by: mathuser Message was edited by: mathuser Message was edited by: mathuser