Anti-Plagiarism Campaigner Beaten Near Home

China's leading anti-plagiarism campaigner, Fang Zhouzi, was beaten by anonymous attackers in Beijing on August 29. Just months ago, Fang was the center of media attention for outing the well-known professional manager, Tang Jun, for holding fake academic credentials.

Fang, who is also known as a "science cop" for battling against pseudoscience and academic misconduct, was attacked at around 5 p.m. on August 29 near his home in Beijing, according to an entry posted on his microblog around 6:30 p.m. the same day by his wife on China's news portal Sina.com.cn.

The posting said: “I'm Fang's wife. Just a moment ago, Fang Zhouzi got slightly hurt in an attack near our home from two men using pepper water and hammers." Fang's wife also requested the police to apprehend the attackers as soon as possible in the same entry.

On Fang's return from an interview at a teahouse, two men ambushed Fang near his home, spraying pepper water into Fang's eyes and hitting him with hammers on his back.

About four hours after the attack, the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau put up another posting on its microblog page, saying "The Beijing police are investigating the incident and more information will be released to the public soon."

Fang Zhouzi is the pen name of Fang Shimin. He is a graduate of the University of Science and Technology of China and received his PhD degree in biochemistry from Michigan State University. He is also the founder of a website called New Threads, a whistleblower site for academic misconduct.