The first Nobel prize to be awarded to a researcher in China has sparked heated debate in the country (see Nature 526, 174–175; 2015). This centres on the public's long-term dissatisfaction with the Chinese academy system, which consistently failed to recognize the scientific talent and originality of the prizewinner Youyou Tu.

Chinese news reports about Tu's award on 5 October drew attention to her 'three-no' status (that is, no overseas experience, no doctorate, no admission to a national academy — a status known as yuanshi). Citizens are indignant that her yuanshi application was repeatedly declined, despite her recommendation by the minister of health and her acclaim by international scientific bodies.

The unfairness of the yuanshi selection process is widely blamed on cronyism, nepotism and excessive bureaucracy (see, for example, C. Cao et al. Science 341, 460–462; 2013). China's academic institutions need to reform their moribund practices rapidly or they are likely to overlook other striking individuals and key grass-roots research in the future.