UPDATE: Police arrest Xiao Chuanguo for attack on Fang Zhouzi, China’s ‘science cop’
Filed under: China
Topics covered : Culture Wars, Justice & Revenge
A few weeks ago, I wrote about Fang Zhouzi, an academic debunker and science cop who’s been making waves in China for years, but remains little-known elsewhere. After nearly a decade of accusing various bigwigs and blowhards of falsifying their credentials, Fang was attacked outside of his home with a hammer and pepper spray. Details are below in the original item.
Chinese cops have cracked this case. According to a blog dedicated to following Fang’s “crusade,” Xiao Chuanguo has been detained in relation to the attacks. As explained below, Xiao is a prominent professor and physician who, according to Fang, lied about his credentials in 2005. This led to various lawsuits. More recently–and more seriously–Fang has been campaigning against the so-called Xiao Procedure, which claims to help restore bladder control to those affected by spina bifida or spinal cord injury. Xiao has also been tied to an attack on science journalist Fang Xuanchang.
Here’s the original item:
Though little known in the U.S., Fang Zhouzi (real name: Fang Shimin) is a pretty well-known biochemist, internet pioneer and poet in China. But he’s not known for his biochemistry, digital endeavors or his poetry. Though he spent much of the 90s advocating for and developing various Usenet groups, IRC channels and independent websites, the last decade has seen him become China’s preeminent academic debunker. The “Science Cop” goes after high-profile intellectuals, academics and executives, charging them with exaggeration, crackpottery and sometimes even outright fraud.
For example, in 2005, Fang accused prominent professor Xiao Chuanguo of lying about his credentials. Xiao, a urologist at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was subsequently denied a prestigious position based on the claims. Xiao sued for libel and was awarded nearly $4,000 in compensation; Fang refused to apologize (and pay). That same year, Fang was involved with two other libel cases. Science has more details, here (sign-in required).
Then, in 2006, Fang went after philosopher Li Ming for publishing an unsound solution to the Four Color Theorem, asking “Has China’s philosophy crank become a mathematics crank?” Li responded by challenging Fang to a duel wherein the loser agrees to “civilly commit suicide.” Presumably, the duel was never held.
Just last month, Fang decided to tangle with Microsoft China’s former chairman, Tang Jun, accusing him of lying about his academic qualifications. Specifically, Fang says, the exec lied about receiving a doctoral degree in computer science from California Institute of Technology. The men have gone back and forth a few times, with Tang Jun ultimately threatening to sue.
Has Fang finally gone too far? As reported by China Daily, Fang was recently attacked near his Beijing home. His wife broke the news on his blog:
The posting reads: “I’m Fang’s wife. Just a moment ago near our home, Fang Zhouzi got slightly hurt by an attack from two men using pepper water and hammers.”
According to a news report from caing.com, two men who ambushed near his apartment sprayed pepper water into Fang’s eyes and hit him with hammers on his back when he returned from an interview at a tea house nearby at around 5 pm.
Fang’s wife also requested the police to seize the attackers as soon as possible in the blog.
About four hours after the attack, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau put up another posting on its microblog page on Sina.com.cn, saying “the Beijing police is investigating into the attack incident and further information will be released on time.”
Fang has a laundry list of enemies, so let’s hope this turns out to be a random attack — not a case of intimidation or payback.
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