Han a hero rebelling against research system?

Editor's note: After a 10-year silence, Han Chunyu, aged 42, an associate professor at Hebei University of Science and Technology, published a paper in the journal Nature Biotechnology about DNA-guided genome editing, which is a big breakthrough in research in this area. Han's story once again raises questions about how research funds are distributed in China.

Xiong Bingqi, vice-president of the 21st Century Education Research Institut, comments:

When deciding how to distribute their research funds, it is always senior professors from famous universities that are considered first; a young researcher of Han's age has little hope of receiving funding.