https://www.scmp.com/rss/524051/feed Terence Tao is a distinguished Professor of Mathematics at UCLA, holding the James and Carol Collins Chair. A child prodigy, he earned his PhD at 20 and became UCLA’s youngest full professor at 24. He is internationally acclaimed for profound contributions across diverse mathematical fields, including harmonic analysis, partial differential equations, and number theory. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Joseph Sipalan,Iman Muttaqin Yusof Joseph Sipalan,Iman Muttaqin Yusof Next to a bustling expressway funnelling Malaysia’s exports to the world, Danish shipping giant Maersk has placed a US$118 million bet that Southeast Asia will not only withstand the new tariff era, but find a way to prosper. Maersk’s largest Asia-Pacific distribution centre opened in Shah Alam, Selangor state, on Wednesday. Seven years in the planning, it was conceived well before Donald Trump’s tariff-wielding return to the White House disrupted supply chains and slashed corporate margins. But... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3331978/who-wins-us-china-trade-war-maersks-malaysia-mega-bet-backs-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3331978/who-wins-us-china-trade-war-maersks-malaysia-mega-bet-backs-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:11 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang When it was officially announced in late August that statistician Liu Jun had left Harvard University and joined Tsinghua University in Beijing, speculation ran rampant. Was it political tension? Research funding cuts? A backlash against Chinese academics in the US? For Liu, the answer is simple – and deeply personal. It “has nothing to do with Trump”, he said in an email to the South China Morning Post, explaining that his decision was not out of political protest or professional... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3325154/why-did-harvard-top-mathematician-liu-jun-leave-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3325154/why-did-harvard-top-mathematician-liu-jun-leave-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Sep 2025 13:00:08 +0000 SCMP SCMP We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Looks like an airship, acts like a windmill. Engineer says China on brink of turbine leap Chinese scientists expect to soon make a breakthrough in airborne wind turbine technology, with the world’s first megawatt-level system set to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3323450/chinas-turbine-leap-billion-dollar-property-sale-hong-kong-scmps-7-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3323450/chinas-turbine-leap-billion-dollar-property-sale-hong-kong-scmps-7-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Aug 2025 04:30:08 +0000 SCMP SCMP Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump calls criticism of move to admit thousands of Chinese students ‘insulting’ US President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his proposal to admit hundreds of thousands of Chinese students, saying the US is “honoured” to host them and warning that the American college system would “go to hell” without them. 2. As the world watches PLA approach 100, is it... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3323392/trump-defends-china-student-move-tiangong-space-station-beats-iss-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3323392/trump-defends-china-student-move-tiangong-space-station-beats-iss-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Aug 2025 13:15:07 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang Would mathematician Terence Tao consider leaving the United States for Hong Kong or mainland China in light of funding cuts under the Trump administration? When the South China Morning Post put the question to the Fields medallist and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) professor, his response was measured but telling. “The situation is very fluid and unstable right now – far more than it has been at any previous point in the last 30 years,” Tao wrote in an email on August 21. “What... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3323325/will-you-leave-us-china-it-depends-says-mathematician-terence-tao?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3323325/will-you-leave-us-china-it-depends-says-mathematician-terence-tao?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 27 Aug 2025 12:00:08 +0000 SCMP SCMP Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Taiwan could run out of energy in 10 days under PLA blockade, report warns Taiwan would run out of natural gas supplies in about 10 days if Beijing blockaded the island, according to a report published by a Washington-based geopolitical think tank. 2. ‘Too far ahead’: can the US upskill to compete with China on rare earths? Multilateral moves to break... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3320857/us-china-battle-over-rare-earths-beijings-beef-industry-boost-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3320857/us-china-battle-over-rare-earths-beijings-beef-industry-boost-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Aug 2025 13:15:08 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang Renowned mathematician Terence Tao says funding delays at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have left his lab struggling to support graduate students and research projects. Not only Tao, but the entire UCLA system and several other top universities have been impacted by federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump. The predicament in the US scientific community sharply contrasts with China’s active efforts to attract talented science and technology researchers, particularly... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3320853/trump-funding-cuts-hit-even-maths-prodigy-terence-tao-china-remains-talent-magnet?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3320853/trump-funding-cuts-hit-even-maths-prodigy-terence-tao-china-remains-talent-magnet?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Aug 2025 12:04:59 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang There are four top-tier journals in mathematics academia: Annals of Mathematics, Inventiones Mathematicae, Journal of the American Mathematical Society and Acta Mathematica. These journals put out only about 100 articles each year, and publishing even one is a mark of a leading mathematician. It is very rare to publish in all four. Li Hanfeng published 10 in total across all four between 2005 and 2019. The leading China-born mathematician has now returned from the United States. Chongqing... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3320453/american-mathematical-society-fellow-li-hanfeng-joins-chinas-chongqing-university?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3320453/american-mathematical-society-fellow-li-hanfeng-joins-chinas-chongqing-university?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:00:09 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang As the world’s brightest young mathematical minds gathered last week at Australia’s Sunshine Coast for the biggest global maths competition of the year, one moment stood out before the contest had even begun. During the opening ceremony for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the audience erupted into lengthy cheers and applause as China’s six-person team was introduced among the more than 100 taking part. The team was led by second-year Wuhan high school student Xu Qiming, who helped... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3319043/chinas-beautiful-mind-brain-disorder-no-match-young-prodigy-maths-olympiad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3319043/chinas-beautiful-mind-brain-disorder-no-match-young-prodigy-maths-olympiad?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Jul 2025 13:00:08 +0000 Shi Huang Shi Huang China has secured a major academic coup with the recruitment of mathematics luminary Joshua Zahl, recently celebrated for solving the more than 100-year-old three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture. Zahl is leaving Canada’s University of British Columbia (UBC) to take up a full-time position as a chair professor at Nankai University’s Chern Institute of Mathematics (CIM), according to the Chinese educational institution’s website. Zahl and his collaborator Wang Hong from New York University posted... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3315717/star-mathematician-joshua-zahl-leaves-canada-china-after-solving-century-old-puzzle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3315717/star-mathematician-joshua-zahl-leaves-canada-china-after-solving-century-old-puzzle?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Jun 2025 12:30:16 +0000