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

對丘成桐的攻擊，就如同重演捉女巫的鬧劇（這麼個翻法，已經很客氣了）

親愛的Nasar女士，

我既不是幾何學者，也不是丘先生所在學校的成員，同時也不是中國人。我對您所著的“美麗心靈”一書，深懷景仰，那本書寫得非常迷人。

但對您在紐約客上撰寫的關於龐加萊猜想的文章，我深感震驚。

您與那些促成此文面世的數學圈子內的某些人，已對數學這個高尚的研究領域，造成了傷害。而您自己，則損害了您在那些嚴肅數學家心中的聲譽。您的文章，庸俗而缺乏品味。它簡直就是最惡劣的小報新聞的筆法，而絕非我們所預期的來自哥倫比亞大學的新聞筆法。

使我震驚的是，您心甘情願地欣然充當某些有勢力的小幫派的馬前卒，而這些有勢力的小幫派，似乎與邱先生素有積怨，且欲除之而後快。就最低要求而言，為平衡您的觀點，對於丘先生（也就是你文章中所描繪的“惡人”）的看法，您至少應該引用支持和反對雙方的觀點。而您未能做到這一點。那些與龐加萊猜想和拓撲學毫不相關的反對丘先生的人的話，您慷慨地大段引用，而那些可能對此持不同看法的人的話，則或是不見蹤影，或是匆匆帶過，語焉不詳。難道如此不公平，不均衡的新聞報道方式，就是今日新聞學院所傳授的報道新聞的方式嗎？

作為數學界的一員，我本人已是若干高引用率文章的作者，對於統治數學界若干領域的那些個小幫派，我深有體會。我知道，在那些被您文章引用過的人中間，至少有兩位，也曾玩過和您文中描述相類似的把戲，而這一次，您則是將丘先生描繪成那個玩弄把戲的人。關於這些，在數學家中已有廣泛的討論。我想說的是，儘管非常令人遺憾，但在任何領域的智力角逐中，都不難發現類似的情形。但像您和您的英雄們這樣，在一個高度公眾化的論壇上，傲慢地作此類斷言來反對丘先生，直可稱得上是政治迫害（witch hunt）。而我一直以為，塞勒姆村捉女巫的時代早已過去了。

您是一個記者，寫聳人聽聞的文章是您謀稻粱的方式，對於這點，我在一定程度上可以理解。畢竟，不可能人人都像也在紐約客上發表文章的Sy Hersh那樣，都來作研究式的報道。在第一流的數學雜誌上，可能同時出現不入流和第一流的文章，看來，紐約客也有類似情況。我所不理解的是，為何我們的某些數學同行，如此公然地用刻毒的語言來攻擊丘先生。我們中間的某些人，對此甚為震驚！我已經見過一些私下裡流傳的電子郵件，其中一些人，收回了他們的話，且至少有一個人，已經對自己的話進行了澄清。比方說，當代最出色的幾何學家之一，一位史坦福大學的教授，甚至說，如果對丘先生的遭遇發生在他身上，他就立刻給律師打電話。事實上，您的文章簡直就是誣衊誹謗。我想知道，為何紐約客不發表一下這類信件？現在，也許該討論一下新聞報道中是否存在偏袒一方的現象了。

再作最後一個評論：那些攻擊丘先生的人，他們在數學上與丘先生相比，簡直就是侏儒。丘先生是這個時代，乃至歷史上最偉大的幾何學家之一，而我們其他人，則應該拋開我們的妒嫉心，克服Stroock教授（麻省理工）已向我們生動描述過的那種“蟹桶綜合症”。這也是與我交談的數位數學家的共同感受。

也許某一天，我們會在某個雞尾酒會上碰面，那時，我會試圖更深入探究您撰寫此文的真實動機。我猜想，您寫此文，該不會僅僅是為了在您的簡歷上再添加一筆？您的文章，止不住讓人聞到是有反丘勢力在後鼓譟的意味，雖然這些人，甚至膽怯到不敢留下痕跡。換句話說，他們深深捲入此事，但他們的話，卻甚至未在您的文中被引用。

Nasar女士，祝您今天過得好！找靈感時，您該好好想想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