On July 23, Chinese mathematicians Deng Yu and Wang Hong, who teach in Europe and the United States, were awarded the highest honor in the international mathematics community – the Fields Medal. Both of them studied at Peking University, but their achievements were obtained after further studying abroad. This is the first time that Chinese mathematicians have received such a prestigious award, and the official Chinese media and Peking University have seized the opportunity to interview them, touting the “honors.” However, especially regarding the true life experiences of Wang Hong, a strange phenomenon of trending on Weibo has emerged.
Recently, the “Guangxi Daily” published an article titled “Wang’s Conjecture,” describing Wang Hong’s life experiences, causing a frenzy on the internet and sparking a wave of demand for the print version of the newspaper. Internet users praised Wang’s inspirational journey, showing that “taking it slow and going around can also lead to the finish line” in real life. Yet, it was baffling that Weibo was pushing these two trending topics.
On July 25, the official media “Guangxi Daily” featured “Wang’s Conjecture” on its front page. The article stated that on July 16, their reporter visited the Sandian Bridge Village in Shazi Town, Pingle County, Guilin, where Wang Hong grew up, and interviewed her relatives and high school teachers.
The article mentioned that during primary school, Wang Hong skipped two grades. Her father introduced her to the world of mathematics, and her parents “carved out a pure land for her, allowing the growing Wang Hong to start spinning in all possible directions.”
At the high school in Shazi Town, Wang Hong consistently ranked at the top academically, but she was not a typical “small-town genius.”
Her study journey at Peking University was straightforward. Wang Hong was admitted to the School of Earth and Space Sciences and transferred to the School of Mathematical Sciences after passing a departmental transfer exam in her second year. Tian Gang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Beijing International Mathematical Research Center who taught Wang Hong, said, “To successfully transfer departments means having to study two professional courses simultaneously in your freshman year, and your grades in your major must not be too bad.”
The article also briefly mentioned Wang Hong’s growth experiences in France and the United States, skimming over crucial turning points.
The report then went viral on Chinese social media platforms, with many netizens posting on social media seeking to purchase the print version of “Wang’s Conjecture.”
On the second-hand market, many sellers are reselling the issue at prices ranging from 20 to 65 Chinese Yuan, while the normal retail price of “Guangxi Daily” is 1.35 Yuan. A new term coined “Guangxi Paper Expensive” emerged.
On July 28, “Guangxi Daily” responded to netizens on Weibo, stating, “The newspaper is already rushing to print! The machines are smoking.”
Earlier on the 27th, “Guangxi Daily” posted on Weibo, stating, “Newspaper Brother has been ‘bombarded’ by everyone’s private messages these past two days,” with many friends exclaiming “one is hard to find.” “Why is everyone rushing to get it? Because it not only records the glory of Wang Hong winning the Fields Medal but also depicts a real-life of “taking it slow and going around can also lead to the finish line.”
Meanwhile, on Weibo, tags like “Wang’s Conjecture” and “Guangxi Paper Expensive” were prevalent, but upon clicking, those related topics were nowhere to be found, only visible through the content posted by Weibo users.
Other related topics, such as “People’s Daily Talks about Guangxi Paper Expensive” and “Netizens High-price Seek Wang’s Conjecture Newspaper,” were showing normally.
It is worth noting that after winning the award, Wang Hong, in interviews discussing her growth, mentioned her parents, studying in Paris for many years, New York University (where she is currently a professor), and the Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies (IHES) in France, rarely mentioning Peking University. Occasionally mentioning Peking University, she would only say that she was “struggling hard all the time” there, and “being able to survive was already good enough” (China Science Report).
After winning the award, Wang Hong told Agence France-Presse that the years spent at the Ecole Polytechnique, Paris-Saclay University, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies in France left a profound mark on her.
She praised the Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies in France for recruiting based solely on scientific excellence and then completely trusting the researchers. There were no teaching duties, no administrative work, allowing researchers to freely and wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to long-term research. She expressed gratitude for the environment during the interview.
Public records show that Wang Hong was born in Guilin, Guangxi, China, in 1991, showing a talent for mathematics from a young age, skipping grades twice, entering Peking University at the age of 16 and later switching to study at the School of Mathematical Sciences. After graduating, she pursued further studies in France, earning an engineering degree from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris and a master’s degree from Paris-Saclay University (merged into Paris-Saclay University on January 1, 2020), then obtaining a PhD from MIT in 2019.
In 2023, Wang Hong became a professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University and has been a permanent professor of mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies (IHES) in France since September 2025. She is the third female recipient of the Fields Medal in its nearly hundred-year history.