Chinese writer who dismissed Korean novels loses master's over plagiarized thesis
Renmin University revoked Jiang Fangzhou’s degree after a review of her 2019 submission found that she had failed to properly cite sources.
Chinese writer Jiang Fangzhou
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Chinese writer Jiang Fangzhou, known in Korea for publicly dismissing the country's novels, has been stripped of her master's degree after her thesis was found to contain plagiarized material.
Renmin University of China announced Monday on Weibo that an investigation committee, which included external experts, concluded that Jiang committed academic misconduct in the master's thesis she submitted in 2019.
The university said it found that portions of her thesis overlapped with papers published in international academic journals without proper citation and that the sources were not included in the references.
Jiang drew backlash in Korea in July 2006 during a promotional event for one of her books, when she dismissed internet novelist Guiyeoni, the pen name of Lee Yoon-sae, as being far inferior to her and suggested that the essence of the Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, novel boom was "a deception."
Renmin University said that it had decided to revoke Jiang's master's degree in accordance with university regulations on the prevention and handling of academic misconduct.
The author responded later that night in a post on Weibo, saying she accepted the university's decision.
"I accept the university's decision," Jiang wrote. "I sincerely apologize to my readers who were disappointed by this incident and to my thesis adviser, who was disciplined because of it."
The plagiarism allegations were first raised by Xiao Ying, a professor at Tsinghua University. At the time, however, Renmin said it had found no evidence of academic misconduct.
The school reopened the investigation after additional allegations circulated online, claiming Jiang had improperly used material from a Taiwanese scholar's paper and a book by an American scholar without attribution. The university ultimately reversed its earlier finding and concluded that Jiang had committed plagiarism.
Jiang became one of China's best-known young writers after publishing eight novels at the age of 17 and was hailed as a literary genius.
BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
