In a Scientist's Fall, China Feels Robbed of Glory

NY Times ^ | Published: May 15, 2006 | By DAVID BARBOZA

[sully777]

SHANGHAI, May 14 — Not very long ago, China saw itself as a nation on the verge of a technological breakthrough.

But today, China appears shocked and shamed by a scandal that has already begun to tarnish that vision. It involves a top computer scientist, Chen Jin, who became a national hero in 2003 when he said he had created one of China's first digital signal processing computer chips, sophisticated microchips that can process digitized data for mobile phones, cameras and other electronic devices. His milestone seemed to hold the promise of helping close the enormous gaps with the West in science and technology.

On Friday, however, the government said it was all a fraud.

The distinguished scientist, the government said, had faked research conducted at Jiaotong University and simply stolen his chip designs from a foreign company, then passed them off as his own...[excerpt]

[sully777]

Chen Jin, the Chinese computer scientist accused of fraud.

[MJY1288]

His Organs will go to the highest bidder

[Enchante]

China steals everything it can without regard for copyrights, patents, etc. The only surprise here is that they actually admitted to it....

[CheyennePress]

< snicker >

Add one more to the South Korean cloning fraud business.

[Doctor Stochastic]

So the Chinese are catching up with the West. It's better to disgrace these guys now than use their products later.

[kinoxi]

fu** china?

[neodad]

Check for his DNC contributions.

[VOA]

China steals everything it can without regard for copyrights, patents,
etc. The only surprise here is that they actually admitted to it....

The guy is probably wondering:
"What happened to that 'it is glorious to get rich' stuff the
Communist leaders were spouting?"

He probably thought he was just carrying out standard operating procedure
even if he was cutting corners.

[PzLdr]

How about his pianos?

[billybudd]

They're admitting it because they made such a big deal about it before. If they allow these shmucks to fake "inventions", their whole technological progress goes to shiznit. So they're making an example of this guy.

[VOA]

China steals everything it can without regard for copyrights, patents, etc.
The only surprise here is that they actually admitted to it....

Heck, this is more transparency than you'll get from some parts
of your federal, state or local guvmints.
Or neighborhood association.

[bondjamesbond]

I said this was a fraud at the time. You can look that one up.

[sully777]

Are you saying his family will pay for one of these?

[starbase]

China has been notorious for its intellectual property violations — and for stealing technology and skills from the West. But suddenly, things seem different, because technology, largely the Internet, is making it all too easy to detect such thefts.

This is a delightful little development. Delightful because I'm somewhat familiar with Chinese culture and know that total fraud has been viewed as an acceptable (even clever) way to get ahead for, literally, centuries.

There's a traditional story told to kids about a clever man who found value in a common object which had no value. Sounds resourceful, doesn't it? Well, what he did was he found a rich noble who loved antique instruments and would pay a lot of money for them. So the man took a normal, new violin and scuffed it up and carved old style lettering on it (that is, Chinese characters), then buried it in a sack for a year.

When he dug it up it looked "antique" enough to fool the nobleman and trick him into paying a fortune for it!! Great moral lesson for the kids, isn't it? Just engage in total fraud to get ahead and screw the SOB who gets robbed.

Of course Americans (and Westerners) will view that as what it is, theft. But in the story it's presented as a clever way to find value in something that had no value.

I'm especially pleased that the Internet will be a potent weapon against Chinese fraud, because the fact of the matter is, it is so historically ingrained as being OK, that only an outside resource (like the Internet) will be in anyway effective in stopping it.

[donmeaker]

It is kind of funny: A government that justifies its moral authority based on its history of mass murder, theft, and torture is shocked, yes, shocked, that someone would lie.

[united1000]

informative reply

[sully777]

It is kind of funny: A government that justifies its moral authority based on its history of mass murder, theft, and torture is shocked, yes, shocked, that someone would lie.

Hitler was a vegatarian because he despised animal cruelty. He hated effeminate men while he engaged in sodomy.

[donmeaker]

Hitler was not a vegetarian until his (half?) sister and mistress was killed. She had been dead about a week when her body was found.

Rather tramatic, if true. On the other hand, some suggest that he had her killed, because she threatened to go public.

[Candor7]

Hitler...He hated effeminate men while he engaged in sodomy.

Hitler was a sodomiting shite packer?

I never knew....explains why he used to walk so funny.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

RE: "I'm especially pleased that the Internet will be a potent weapon against Chinese fraud. . . ."

And thank you and the other replies on this thread.

"Free traders" always avoid these "bad news" posts because their screams of "Bigot!" "Comparative advantage!" "Take a course in econ 101!" are drowned out by truth.