Peking University, March 30, 2022: Students enrolled around the year of 2000 in PKU School of Mathematical Sciences, for their extraordinary achievements, were given the name “Golden Generation”; as a member of them, Professor Yuan Xinyi, after teaching at the University of California, Berkeley, chose to join Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research (BICMR). After 20 years, Yuan is no longer the teenager who discussed math problems with classmates in seminar classes, but returns as a mathematician to begin a new chapter of his story with PKU.


The Becoming of the Young Mathematician

Yuan’s interest in mathematics was nurtured at a very young age. Like many gifted mathematicians, Yuan fell in love with math the moment when he came across it at the age of 6. Yuan was indisputably the top student in his class for math, but he soon realized that there was a gap in the difficulty level between the math taught in class and the one tested in mathematical competition. After failing his first math competition in the 6th grade, Yuan made up his mind to train himself to become a qualified math contestant. Yuan became engrossed in solving math problems in his new math practice book, spending several hours a day solving a single problem. With a unique study method he discovered, he was easily ranked first in a contest held in town. After that, he got in Huanggang High School  as a first-place recommended student, and then became a member of the national team of math competition, winning the gold medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad. Subsequently, Yuan was recommended to PKU for his outstanding performance in mathematical competition, where he continued to pursue his study in mathematics.


Undergraduate years is an important transition period for Yuan, for these 3 years on campus honed his understanding of mathematical research. PKU School of Mathematical Sciences designed more courses for undergraduates compared to colleges abroad, which laid a solid foundation for Yuan. Around the beginning of the 21st Century, an ‘enhanced version’ of teaching was introduced, which allowed students to participate in various discussion classes and cutting-edge scientific research programs. Looking back on his time as a student, Yuan cherishes the days he spent together with that group of like-minded people.


After graduating one year earlier with his bachelor’s degree, he went to Columbia University in the United States to learn about the number theory under the guidance of Professor Shou-Wu Zhang. During his doctoral period, Yuan’s first research was related to Arakelov geometry. Thereafter, while cooperating with his tutor Professor Shou-Wu Zhang and his classmate Zhang Wei (who also became a representative of the “Golden Generation”), Yuan successively proved a series of important results related to the Gross-Zagier formula and the averaged Colmez conjecture . He also independently proved the height formula of the Shimura curve over the totally real number field .

Reunion by the Weiming Lake

After working at Clay Mathematics Institute (CMI), Princeton University and the University of California, Berkeley, Yuan decided to return to his alma mater in 2020. With the experience of teaching abroad for many years, Yuan has his own insights about the differences in math education in Chinese and American colleges. The setting in American colleges is more relaxed, and students are generally more confident, which Yuan believes is a favorable environment for academic research. There is still a gap between Chinese and American universities in this regard, but Yuan have faith in fostering China’s own advantage in the field of mathematical research, starting with his work in Beijing International Center for Mathematical Research (BICMR).


In the spring semester this year, Yuan started teaching courses in number theory and algebraic geometry. Those courses were said to be profound and difficult, but Yuan enjoyed teaching them immensely, as “students in PKU are diligent thinkers and are good at raising questions.” Yuan said that teaching is also a great opportunity for him to get familiar with relevant knowledge as well as to sort out his ideas clearly. He also started grooming graduate students, hoping to foster their thinking and research methods along with developing specific mathematical skills in them. Yuan is proud of his new role as a teacher in his own alma mater. His story at Peking University continues.

Written by: Zhang Yihe Estelle
Edited by: Shi Xinyao, Hu Rong
Source: PKU News (Chinese)