FANG SHIMIN — better known by his pen name Fang Zhouzi — asked organizers of the 2012 China Newsmakers of the Year for Science selection to delete his name from the shortlist as he did not want to become a “newsmaker” like Han Han, a popular young Chinese writer and blogger.

    Fang, who writes about science, is renowned for exposing plagiarism and academic fraud. He posted a series of articles on his microblog last year accusing Han of publishing his father’s work under his own name. This caused a stir around the country.

    “I don’t want to become one of the 2012 China Newsmakers of the Year for Science for the reason mentioned by the organizer. I don’t want to be associated with a cheat and plagiarist. Please delete my name from the shortlist,” Fang said in a statement Sunday.

    Netizens are now voting for a winner of the award, which is jointly organized by Science Times and people.com.cn. Famous figures such as agricultural scientist Yuan Longping, CEO and founder of Alibaba Group Ma Yun, and president of Tsinghua University Chen Jining are also on the shortlist.

    To many people’s surprise, Han, who is also a noted writer and racing driver, is on the list. “Han compiled and published a science promotion book, ‘The Earth’s Past,’ in November. As a novelist and polymath, Han has proven himself as a qualified modern writer. He drives racing cars, has a very successful blog and knows about science,” the organizer’s recommendation said.

    The book is a science anthology jointly written by top paleontology restoration painter Zhao Chuang and science writer Yang Yang. It has become one of the best-selling books in the country since it was launched Nov. 1.

    Fang was also recommended because he apologized to a university professor after claiming to expose the professor’s “academic fraud.” He later confessed that the allegations were not true.

    As of the end of Sunday, the last day for online voting, Han received nearly 17,000 votes from the selection’s official website and nearly 700 votes from people.com.cn, ranking third among all the candidates.

    It is unknown how many votes Fang received.

    The final result will be announced Jan. 19 after being reviewed and evaluated by experts.

    Fang said he was not satisfied with the reason for his recommendation. “The reason is very odd. I found that I made a mistake about the professor one hour after I started questioning him in public. I don’t believe that the selection organization would choose such a small incident as a reason. I did a lot of things in 2012, including exposing several major academic frauds, but they were not mentioned. The organizers only focused on my mistake. What do they think?” Fang said.

    But Fang is still much more angry about Han’s inclusion. “Han’s publisher Lu Jinbo admitted that the science book was written by someone else. Han was only a senior editor and wrote some prefaces. It’s an insult to science,” he said.

    Fang raised his doubts about the book as soon as it was released. “Since when was a novelist and a racing driver qualified to write about science? This book can only appeal to Han’s loyal fans,” Fang said in his microblog.

    Han did not comment on the matter, but Lu said that the attention the book has been getting since the announcement of the shortlist has been hugely encouraging. “This is a great book. It was planned by Han and we did not hold any press conferences or promotional activities when it was released, but it has been very well received by readers and has sold extremely well,” he said.

    The book was also praised by Meng Jinyan, famous paleontologist from the American Museum of Natural Science. He said in his blog that introducing Han to publish the book was a creative way of promoting science in China.

    (Wang Yuanyuan)