Shing-Tung Yau, a professor at Harvard University and academician of the American Academy of Sciences, has become the president and advocator of the First Sanya International Mathematics Forum, which was held on December 22 to 26 in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. About 200 world leading mathematicians participated in the forum.

Yau, 61, is a world-renowned Chinese American mathematician. He was born in Shantou, Guangdong Province in China. After studying mathematics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 1966 to 1969, Yau went to the University of California, Berkeley, in 1969. At the age of 22, Yau was awarded his Ph.D. under the supervision of famous mathematician Shiing-Shen Chern at Berkeley in two years. Since 1987, he has been working at Harvard University, where he has numerous Ph.D. students.

A winner of numerous awards in the field, Yau is also involved in research activities of institutes in Hong Kong and the mainland of China. He also pays a lot of attention to mathematics education in China. "China doesn't have enough investment in the development of fundamental subjects. The entire field of science and technology must have backup from fundamental subjects to prosper; otherwise our industry will always fall behind others," he said.

He suggests scientific research funding mostly be spent on young people who display promise. "Good-quality youth must be cultivated. In higher education, the quality of students is far more important than quantity," he said.