Chapter 172: Doubts from the West
After the end of "NEWS Network", at 8 o'clock in the evening, CCTV officially broadcast Pang Xuelin's special program.
A few days ago, a proof paper on Fermat's conjecture from China caused a sensation in the United States, and the New York Times reported the news with a front-page headline, and quoted Pierre Deligne, an internationally renowned mathematician who won both the Fields Medal and the Cafford Medal, as saying that this was the most important breakthrough in mathematics since the twentieth century. The creator of this outstanding achievement is a young rural primary school teacher from G Province of China - Pang Xuelin......"
"What we want to tell today is the story of Mr. Pang Xuelin and his Lingziding Village Primary School. Dayu Township, Anhe County, G Province, there is a remote mountain village, called Lingziding Village, Lingziding Village is more than 100 kilometers away from the county seat of Anhe County, and Dayu Township, which has the nearest highway, is more than 30 kilometers away in a straight line. Lingziding Village Primary School is located on a hillside surrounded by mountains......"
Twenty years ago, Hu Wenbin, the previous resident teacher of Lingziding Village Primary School, picked up an infant baby on his way to the county seat. This is the protagonist we are going to talk about today, Mr. Pang Xuelin. In order to raise this Pang Xuelin to adulthood, Mr. Hu Wenbin never married until March 1992, when Mr. Hu Wenbin, who was only 48 years old, died of illness. And the child he raised did not disappoint him, from elementary school to junior high school, from junior high school to high school, Pang Xuelin never let the first place in the grade be aside. According to normal circumstances, Pang Xuelin is fully capable of being admitted to Tsinghua University or Peking University......"
But in March last year, teacher Hu Wenbin passed away due to illness, and Lingziding Village Primary School faced the fate of having no teachers and was about to be disbanded. Pang Xuelin, who is in his third year of high school, made one of the most important decisions in his life, giving up the college entrance examination and choosing to take over the position of teacher Hu Wenbin, becoming another resident teacher of Lingziding Village Primary School......"
……
CCTV's special program lasts for a total of one and a half hours, telling Pang Xuelin's life experience and the story behind this school.
Villagers are reluctant to send their children to school, so in order to increase the enrollment rate, Pang Xuelin provides free lunches according to the method passed down by teacher Hu Wenbin, and spends most of his salary on subsidizing the children's food and clothing.
Because the school building was in disrepair, Pang Xuelin took advantage of the winter vacation to go to Lincheng and send out the papers he had accumulated in the past few years one by one, ready to earn manuscript fees, and then unexpectedly met Wang Chongqing, a professor at Lincheng University, and was invited to join the Institute of Mathematics of Lincheng University......
When he was in Lincheng, Pang Xuelin took advantage of the New Year's break to get up early and be greedy, selling New Year's goods to earn funds for repairing the school building......
After returning to the village, he took advantage of his free time during the winter vacation to tell various stories to the children in the village, which attracted many villagers to come and listen......
After the Chinese New Year, he accidentally encountered human traffickers and fought with them at the cost of his life......
All kinds of deeds have been excavated by the CCTV film crew.
Even Wang Chongqing, Wang Muhui, Luo Jianzhong, Kan Jianzhang and others were also on camera and interviewed by CCTV reporters.
At the end of the program, the program team directly added the picture of Pang Xuelin holding a press conference this morning, especially the last sentence he said when he accepted Scott's question, which was highlighted by the program team.
In one night, Pang Xuelin's name resounded all over the country.
On the second day of CCTV's report, major media across the country followed up one after another.
"RM Daily" reported Pang Xuelin's related deeds on the front page.
Xinhua News Agency also published a commentator's article, in the end of the article, which reads: "The place where you stand is your China; What you do, what happens to China; China is what you are; If you have light, China will not be dark...... This is the original words of Mr. Pang Xuelin, and it is also a true portrayal of Mr. Pang Xuelin's life in the world. Mr. Pang Xuelin is determined to take root in the countryside, dedicate himself to the country, with lofty ambitions and the spirit of struggle, and be vigorous and promising on the road of life, and strive for self-improvement, which has set an example for us to learn from the people of the whole country, let us pay tribute to Mr. Pang Xuelin! ”
……
Pang Xuelin found that people were crazy.
The Capital Hotel, where he lives, stands to reason that the staff in the hotel are not very knowledgeable.
But the next day, when everyone saw him, their eyes were completely different from before.
Even some guests of the Capital Hotel, when they saw him, stepped forward to greet him warmly.
When he took A-Qing out, because he was recognized on the street, it was even rare to cause traffic congestion in this era, and then Pang Xuelin experienced the hospitality of the people of the capital.
……
Compared with the euphoria of the domestic media, in the Western media, the report on Pang Xuelin is not so gratifying.
"True or a lie? A twenty-year-old Chinese genius overcomes the Fermat conjecture? —The New York Times
"Xuelin Pang's true identity has been exposed, he is just a rural primary school teacher who has just turned 20 years old." - Le Figaro
"The greatest achievement of mathematics of the twentieth century with a rural elementary school teacher who has just turned twenty? Is this really the case? —The Times
"Boasting of challenging the international mathematical community? Is it real or young and frivolous? —The Christian Monitor
"Xuelin Pang is just a puppet put forward by the Chinese government, which really proves that Fermat guesses that there is someone else?" —The Washington Post
"High school graduates conquer the Fermat conjecture? What is the truth? - Asahi Shimbun
"The Chinese genius boy who overcame Fermat's conjecture has been widely questioned by the Western media." ——Lianhe Zaobao
……
Almost the day after the press conference, the Western media was overwhelmed with skepticism.
Whatever the purpose, almost all Western media do not want to believe that a Chinese genius who has just turned 20 has made the most important mathematical breakthrough of the twentieth century.
Princeton, New Jersey, USA.
Editorial Board of Annals of Mathematics.
Andrew Wiles hurried into Pierre Deligne's office with a newspaper in his hand and slapped it on Deligne's desk. ”
"Pierre, Xuelin Pang has found it, the Chinese say that the author of this paper is only a high school graduate who has only turned twenty years old, do you think this is credible?"
Deligne didn't seem to be as excited as Andrew Wiles, and said with a faint smile: "Is it true, don't we know when we see the real person?" Also, I've received a reply from Pong who agrees to come to Princeton to hold a Fermat conjecture presentation! ”