In 1980s after the disastrous 10-year Mao’s Cultural Revolution when China was closed to the outside world, Hua convinced Deng Xiaoping to allow Chinese students participate in the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO). He and his team designed training programmes and promoted math competitions...
not in preparation for any Math Olympiad or “regular” test, not on the advice of any of their teachers, not as part of any organized program — to talk about pure math, math more interesting than the math found in their textbooks. The three students in ...