Sir

In your Editoral 'Culture clash in China' (Nature 456, 545–546; 2008), you incorrectly say that I am professor emeritus, having retired from the College of Life Sciences, Peking University, four years ago. In fact, I retired in February 2006 and do not have emeritus status. Neither did I retain my laboratory there in order for my associate professor to take it over formally as a way of maintaining my influence.

I have kept my laboratory running with the help of a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). When I applied to the NSFC, Peking University guaranteed my lab and equipment until I had completed the work. The associate professor you mention was a co-author on this grant application.

Although I did submit an online posting accusing Yi Rao, the dean of life sciences, of withdrawing the laboratory for use in other applications (http://tinyurl.com/8l4u9x), I have never proposed that the associate professor should take it over. My aim is that he should be able to use it to continue his research.