Top mathematician Zhang says he left US for China due to political climate

Mathematician Zhang Yitang, who joined Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou from California in June, has called the wave of Chinese researchers exiting the US a “positive trend”.

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Zhang, known for his prime number research, told Phoenix TV, a partially state-owned broadcaster, in a programme aired on Monday that he had been thinking about returning to the mainland “in light of recent international political issues that have strained China-US relations”.

The Shanghai native, 70, is now a full professor at Sun Yat-sen’s newly established Institute of Advanced Studies Hong Kong. He left the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught mathematics, to work and live in the Greater Bay Area.

“Many Chinese scholars and professors in the US have already returned, and many others are still considering it,” Zhang said. “I think this is a positive trend.”

“My field is not greatly affected, but for researchers in computers, chips or anything related to the military industry, they need to be especially careful,” he warned. “The US is very strict about these areas now.”

Zhang (left) receives his letter of appointment as a full-time faculty member at Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute of Advanced Studies Hong Kong on June 27, 2025. Photo: Handout
Zhang (left) receives his letter of appointment as a full-time faculty member at Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute of Advanced Studies Hong Kong on June 27, 2025. Photo: Handout

Zhang said that one advantage of studying mathematics, especially theoretical mathematics, was not having to be tied to a particular place.

  

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