China clones its own Dr. Hwang-like scandal

Not to be outdone by South Korea and its scandal over geneticist-turned-charlatan Hwang Woo-suk, the people of China are convulsing in collective shock over some fake research that had held so much promise.

Dr. Chen Jin, the former head of Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Microelectronics School, will face criminal charges for faking research into computer chips that were aimed at ending the PRC's reliance on foreign suppliers. His chips had been seen as a breakthrough for Chinese research.

According to reports, Dr. Chen used chips made by another firm to fool university and government inspectors. The chips were unable to carry out the functions, such as reading fingerprints or playing MP3 files, that they were supposed to, always a bad sign.

Xinhua New Agency says that Dr. Chen would now have to pay back state funding, an amount of around 114 million yuan (about £7.5 million—hey, it's a BBC article and I'm too damn lazy to go convert this).

According to the BBC, Dr. Chen's work on chips had been seen as a shining example of what could be possible when academia mixed with business. However, an investigation was launched after authorities received a letter questioning the validity of Dr. Chen's work.

That's an awful lot of money—I'm pretty sure it's in the millions of dollars—to bilk the PRC government out of, not to mention the incredible loss of face for the Communists and their long march toward self-reliance. Given that the People's Republic of China executes people for non-violent financial crimes, it's no small concern that we may end up saying Good-bye, Dr. Chips.