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China's eyes on the prize
By Jiang Jie Source:Global Times
Uncertain persists over the future of 'Asia's Nobel' award
Philanthropist Samuel Yin (right), Wong Chi-huey (middle), dean of the Academia Sinica and Yuan-Tseh Lee (left), a famous chemist, stand together at the laureate announcement ceremony for the Tang Prize. Photo: CFP
Photo: tang-prize.org
The world's brightest brains have been given a new goal to strive for, after the first list of laureates for a new international prize launched in Taiwan were released, with the prize money topping NT$50 million ($1.67 million).
Former Norwegian premier Gro Harlem Brundtland was the first recipient of the Tang Prize on June 18, for her work as a "godmother" of sustainable development, while renowned Chinese American scholar Yu Ying-shih was awarded for "his mastery of and insight into Chinese intellectual, political, and cultural history."
Immunologists James P. Allison from the US and Japanese expert Tasuku Honjo became joint recipients in the biopharmaceutical sciences for the discoveries of CTLA-4 and PD-1 as immune inhibitory molecules that led to their applications in cancer immunotherapy.
The last recipient went to Albie Sachs, a South African judge, on June 21 for his many contributions to human rights and justice globally, in particular, in the realization of the rule of law in South Africa.
Founded in 2012 and named after the civilized Tang Dynasty (618-907), the prize offered its first group of awards for four areas: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and the rule of law in 2014.
While it continues to strive to make itself known as the Nobel Prize for Asia, analysts expressed their hope for more individually-funded prizes to encourage more scientific and social breakthroughs.
Asian philanthropyThe Tang Prize is the latest in a line of prizes funded by Asian philanthropists. In 2002, Run Run Shaw, a Hong Kong media mogul, established the Shaw Prize to annually confer $1 million each for three individuals, each receiving the award for outstanding work in astronomy, life sciences and medicine, and mathematical sciences.
Three major science prizes in Japan offer about $550,000 to each winner every year, honoring work in many fields from philosophy to premier environmental research. The donors of the prizes included Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of the Panasonic Corporation.
Similarly, the Tang Prize was founded by Samuel Yin, chairman of the Ruentex Group and an adjunct professor at National Taiwan University. Yin holds a fortune worth $4.5 billion in Ruentex stock, according to Forbes.
The Tang Prize Foundation commissioned Academia Sinica, the foremost Taiwan-based academic research institute, to organize a selection committee, which invites individuals and institutions deemed eligible to nominate candidates.
Three finalists are chosen by the committee and the Board of Directors of the Foundation decides the prizewinner after reviewing the list of finalists and detailed reports, according to the foundation's official website.
The nomination for this year's prize for the rule of law included more than 40 candidates worldwide and the selection committee was composed of international legal experts. Sun Xiaoxia, dean of law school at Fudan University, was invited to nominate a Chinese candidate with "significant contributions to the legal system."
Meanwhile, both the Tang Prize Foundation and the Academic Sinica refused to further elaborate on how they determine eligibility for nomination when reached by the Global Times.
Sun said that he recommended legal expert Li Buyun. "The development of China's legal system has grown rapidly over the years, but is perhaps not mature enough to produce a laureate yet."
Rival to the Nobel Prize?While the Tang Prize touts the fact that it is worth $1.2 million more than the Nobel Prize, it is less well known among both the public and academic circles. Media reports have referred to it as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize or the first international science prize established by Chinese people.
Commenting on Chinese writer Mo Yan's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, US-based writer Liu Yong said that China should set up a prize which involves global participation.
"The Tang prize is not in competition with the Nobel Prize, but is rather supplementary and complementary to it. The Nobel Prize was founded 100 years ago, during a time that was different in many aspects from our modern era. Pollution and rapid changes across global societies require more attention now than ever from the global community—all issues that the Tang Prize seeks to reflect," Yin said.
Yin said he hopes that, through the Tang Prize, he can also bring Chinese culture to a larger audience.
"The Tang Prize promotes world peace and development as well as Chinese culture and philosophy. There is no need to follow the Nobel Prize, which would mean losing our own characteristics," Ma Changshan, a professor at the East China University of Political Science and Law, said.
Sun added that the four categories of the Tang Prize have demonstrated the values of the Chinese community: from environmental protection and human health to the rule of law and cultural inheritance.
But some have cast doubt on the sustainability of the prize.
"The future of the Tang Prize doesn't look promising," Shen Yang, a political commentator and scholar, said. "It seems to just be a way for merchants to rub elbows with renowned scholars, as they awarded it to Yu Ying-shih. The prize has limited its significance if it's just given to academics that are already world renowned. The Tang Prize should instead focus on less well-known groundbreaking scholars."
The biggest challenge for individually-funded prizes is professionalism, which requires a self-disciplined team of experts, according to Shen. "The Nobel Prize focuses on discovery, the Tang Prize on application. This alone indicates that the Tang Prize cannot lead cutting-edge development in natural and social sciences. It can at best demonstrate that Yin is rich and a believer in pragmatism."
Uncertain future"Utilitarianism is increasingly obvious in Chinese academia and basic research is being marginalized. This will deprive the nation of impetus for scientific innovation in the long run," Ma warned.
Shen echoed Ma, and told the Global Times that the Tang Prize did not stand out among the five other national level science prizes honoring scientific breakthroughs and international cooperation in China.
"Being individually-funded, the Tang Prize has reflects the diversity of modern society. Traditionally Chinese businessmen haven't paid tribute to knowledge and science. The passion for philanthropy in China lags far behind countries like the US. It will take time before more billionaires can make a difference," Shen noted.
Samuel Yin has set up a model for other Chinese businesspeople who are getting more involved in charity activities, Sun noted. Ma Yun, chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, agreed to join the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation as a founding sponsor in 2013.
By Jiang Jie Source:Global Times
Uncertain persists over the future of 'Asia's Nobel' award
Philanthropist Samuel Yin (right), Wong Chi-huey (middle), dean of the Academia Sinica and Yuan-Tseh Lee (left), a famous chemist, stand together at the laureate announcement ceremony for the Tang Prize. Photo: CFP
Photo: tang-prize.org
The world's brightest brains have been given a new goal to strive for, after the first list of laureates for a new international prize launched in Taiwan were released, with the prize money topping NT$50 million ($1.67 million).
Former Norwegian premier Gro Harlem Brundtland was the first recipient of the Tang Prize on June 18, for her work as a "godmother" of sustainable development, while renowned Chinese American scholar Yu Ying-shih was awarded for "his mastery of and insight into Chinese intellectual, political, and cultural history."
Immunologists James P. Allison from the US and Japanese expert Tasuku Honjo became joint recipients in the biopharmaceutical sciences for the discoveries of CTLA-4 and PD-1 as immune inhibitory molecules that led to their applications in cancer immunotherapy.
The last recipient went to Albie Sachs, a South African judge, on June 21 for his many contributions to human rights and justice globally, in particular, in the realization of the rule of law in South Africa.
Founded in 2012 and named after the civilized Tang Dynasty (618-907), the prize offered its first group of awards for four areas: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and the rule of law in 2014.
While it continues to strive to make itself known as the Nobel Prize for Asia, analysts expressed their hope for more individually-funded prizes to encourage more scientific and social breakthroughs.
Asian philanthropyThe Tang Prize is the latest in a line of prizes funded by Asian philanthropists. In 2002, Run Run Shaw, a Hong Kong media mogul, established the Shaw Prize to annually confer $1 million each for three individuals, each receiving the award for outstanding work in astronomy, life sciences and medicine, and mathematical sciences.
Three major science prizes in Japan offer about $550,000 to each winner every year, honoring work in many fields from philosophy to premier environmental research. The donors of the prizes included Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of the Panasonic Corporation.
Similarly, the Tang Prize was founded by Samuel Yin, chairman of the Ruentex Group and an adjunct professor at National Taiwan University. Yin holds a fortune worth $4.5 billion in Ruentex stock, according to Forbes.
The Tang Prize Foundation commissioned Academia Sinica, the foremost Taiwan-based academic research institute, to organize a selection committee, which invites individuals and institutions deemed eligible to nominate candidates.
Three finalists are chosen by the committee and the Board of Directors of the Foundation decides the prizewinner after reviewing the list of finalists and detailed reports, according to the foundation's official website.
The nomination for this year's prize for the rule of law included more than 40 candidates worldwide and the selection committee was composed of international legal experts. Sun Xiaoxia, dean of law school at Fudan University, was invited to nominate a Chinese candidate with "significant contributions to the legal system."
Meanwhile, both the Tang Prize Foundation and the Academic Sinica refused to further elaborate on how they determine eligibility for nomination when reached by the Global Times.
Sun said that he recommended legal expert Li Buyun. "The development of China's legal system has grown rapidly over the years, but is perhaps not mature enough to produce a laureate yet."
Rival to the Nobel Prize?While the Tang Prize touts the fact that it is worth $1.2 million more than the Nobel Prize, it is less well known among both the public and academic circles. Media reports have referred to it as the Asian version of the Nobel Prize or the first international science prize established by Chinese people.
Commenting on Chinese writer Mo Yan's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, US-based writer Liu Yong said that China should set up a prize which involves global participation.
"The Tang prize is not in competition with the Nobel Prize, but is rather supplementary and complementary to it. The Nobel Prize was founded 100 years ago, during a time that was different in many aspects from our modern era. Pollution and rapid changes across global societies require more attention now than ever from the global community—all issues that the Tang Prize seeks to reflect," Yin said.
Yin said he hopes that, through the Tang Prize, he can also bring Chinese culture to a larger audience.
"The Tang Prize promotes world peace and development as well as Chinese culture and philosophy. There is no need to follow the Nobel Prize, which would mean losing our own characteristics," Ma Changshan, a professor at the East China University of Political Science and Law, said.
Sun added that the four categories of the Tang Prize have demonstrated the values of the Chinese community: from environmental protection and human health to the rule of law and cultural inheritance.
But some have cast doubt on the sustainability of the prize.
"The future of the Tang Prize doesn't look promising," Shen Yang, a political commentator and scholar, said. "It seems to just be a way for merchants to rub elbows with renowned scholars, as they awarded it to Yu Ying-shih. The prize has limited its significance if it's just given to academics that are already world renowned. The Tang Prize should instead focus on less well-known groundbreaking scholars."
The biggest challenge for individually-funded prizes is professionalism, which requires a self-disciplined team of experts, according to Shen. "The Nobel Prize focuses on discovery, the Tang Prize on application. This alone indicates that the Tang Prize cannot lead cutting-edge development in natural and social sciences. It can at best demonstrate that Yin is rich and a believer in pragmatism."
Uncertain future"Utilitarianism is increasingly obvious in Chinese academia and basic research is being marginalized. This will deprive the nation of impetus for scientific innovation in the long run," Ma warned.
Shen echoed Ma, and told the Global Times that the Tang Prize did not stand out among the five other national level science prizes honoring scientific breakthroughs and international cooperation in China.
"Being individually-funded, the Tang Prize has reflects the diversity of modern society. Traditionally Chinese businessmen haven't paid tribute to knowledge and science. The passion for philanthropy in China lags far behind countries like the US. It will take time before more billionaires can make a difference," Shen noted.
Samuel Yin has set up a model for other Chinese businesspeople who are getting more involved in charity activities, Sun noted. Ma Yun, chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, agreed to join the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences Foundation as a founding sponsor in 2013.
