Cryptographer Shares Experience of Country's Reform, Opening up

Wang Xiaoyun [People.cn]

Wang Xiaoyun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and cryptographer, recently attended a live-streamed interview during which she shared her personal stories and thoughts on the important speech delivered by President Xi Jinping at a gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the country's reform and opening-up.

Wang was born in east China's Shandong province, and started to study at the Mathematics Department of Shandong University in 1983. In 1987, she began to pursue a postgraduate degree by learning with mathematician Pan Chengdong. She shifted to cryptography a year later.

In the interview, Wang explained that Pan taught many of the best students in her department. Most of them turned down lucrative opportunities to go abroad and they stayed in the country to study and work.

She said, "We have been growing up together with the country. My students and I have also been following the traditions, working and serving the nation."

Wang said, "If it wasn't for reform and opening up, I might not have been able to achieve any of my accomplishments, since I used to live in the countryside. The good policies emancipated our minds and helped us study in college."

The profound mathematical knowledge laid a solid foundation for Wang's research work on cryptography. She said that she has been promoting and supporting the development of the intersection of mathematics and cipher over the years.

At present, Wang's main research is on the hash function, which is the core cryptographic technique of blockchain technology.

Wang said, "The hash function is closely related to the global computer networks, computer system electronic signatures, and many crypto systems. Without it, there would be security problems.

Wang said, "When I think about the past, I feel happy, because we have caught up with the good times and opportunities, which were brought about by reform and opening up."

(Source: People.com.cn / Translated and edited by Women of China)