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Dannie Peng

When Nobel laureate James Watson died at 97 in November, obituaries around the world painted a divided portrait: a scientific visionary who co-discovered the double helix of DNA – and a controversial figure long condemned for making racially charged statements about intelligence and genetics.
In the West, the American molecular biologist’s legacy was increasingly overshadowed by the fallout from those remarks, culminating in New York’s Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory (CSHL) severing ties with him in 2019.
Yet thousands of kilometres away, in laboratories and academic communities across China, a different profile emerged – one less focused on scandal than on sacrifice, mentorship and scientific solidarity.
In China, Watson is not mainly remembered as a provocateur, but as a pioneer who saw potential in a nation still rebuilding its scientific foundations – and chose to invest in it when few others did.
From the 1980s onwards, long before China became a global powerhouse in genomics and biotechnology, Watson was quietly laying the intellectual and institutional groundwork for its rise.
He sent books, journals and bacterial strains to Chinese researchers cut off from Western science. He opened the doors of Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory (CSHL) to dozens of Chinese scholars at a time when such opportunities were rare.
He championed China’s inclusion in the Human Genome Project, writing directly to Chinese leaders to urge participation – a move that paved the way for the country to secure its place in one of modern science’s greatest collaborations.


And in 2010, thanks to his endorsement and vision, Cold Spring Harbour Asia (CSHA) launched in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou – the only overseas branch of the laboratory – becoming a vital bridge between East and West in molecular biology.
Today, the city hosts nearly 4,000 biotech firms, a thriving ecosystem rooted in international exchange that Watson helped to ignite.
To Chinese scientists, many of whom now lead cutting-edge research in genetics and precision medicine, Watson’s story is more about how one man, flawed as he was, helped awaken a scientific revolution in China. They choose to remember him with gratitude and respect.
Ji Maoye, CEO of the non-profit CSHA, was a close friend of Watson’s for more than 20 years.
He said Watson’s support for China’s life sciences research during three distinct phases – the 1980s, 1990s and the post-2000 era – propelled the nation from catching up with the global forefront to becoming a world-leading research region.
After earning a doctorate in microbiology and immunology from The Ohio State University in 2001, Ji pursued his postdoctoral studies at CSHL – a world-renowned basic research institution specialising in molecular biology and genetics on New York’s Long Island – where Watson was the president, and they began to forge a friendship.
Watson made his name at a very young age. In 1953, aged 25, he decoded the structure of DNA alongside British scientist Francis Crick while studying at the Cavendish Laboratory. They, together with British biophysicist Maurice Wilkins, shared the Nobel Prize in 1962.
After working in the biology department at Harvard University for over a decade, Watson joined CSHL in 1968. He then led the laboratory to become a pre-eminent research and education institution in life sciences.
In 2006, accompanied by Ji, Watson visited Suzhou and later approved the construction of CSHL’s first and only Asian branch in the Chinese city.

Ji recalled that Watson had poured a great deal of effort into the endeavour, paying attention to even the minutest details, including the architectural style and interior decoration. He is now still listed as a member of the organisation’s honorary scientific advisory board.
Ji highlighted that, since its inauguration in 2010, CSHA had played a key role in connecting Asia’s scientific community with the West, promoting high-level academic exchanges and driving China’s progress.
On top of that, the talent flow facilitated during this process gradually helped to develop Suzhou into a hub for China’s biomedical sector, now home to almost 4,000 biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
Watson’s efforts to strengthen science in China went beyond launching the organisation – and began much earlier.
After China-US relations began to thaw in the 1970s and Beijing began the process of reform and opening up, Watson became one of the first American scholars to visit China.
During his first trip in 1981 and through his conversations with Chinese biochemist Wang Yinglai, whom he had known for years, Watson realised that China’s biological research lagged behind the West by “an entire generation”, Ji recalled.
“He soon decided to take action,” Ji said. One way he did this was by mailing his Chinese fellows extensive research materials and samples to help them keep up with the latest developments.
Another major effort was funding and training Chinese scientists. In January 1982, Watson wrote to Arthur Hummel, the US ambassador to China at the time, stating his intention to invite around 45 scholars from Shanghai to CSHL, some of whom would later be supervised directly by Watson.
Watson also made his mark in Chinese scientific history by involving the country in the Human Genome Project – a milestone feat in human history that he initiated and led in the early 1990s – and which boosted China’s progress in genomics.

According to a memorial article written by Yang Huanming, co-founder of the Chinese genomics giant BGI Group, in 2000, Watson wrote to Chinese leaders at Yang’s request, emphasising the importance of China’s participation in the project. Yang was the head of the then Genome Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
This finally led to China contributing 1 per cent to the large-scale human genome sequencing project.
However, few scientific giants have been as controversial as Watson. In the early 2000s, he sparked controversy over comments on race, sex and his fellow scientists.
In 2019, CSHL revoked his honorary titles and cut all ties with him after a documentary was broadcast in which Watson reiterated his views on race and genetics.
Yet, he is also remembered for nurturing the careers of young women scientists.
Nancy Hopkins, a molecular biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, said in an interview with Nature that Watson had convinced her to do a PhD at a time when few women pursued careers in science.
Younger researchers who had interacted with Watson generally described him as caring and supportive, but also as straightforward and sharp-tongued – traits some say may have contributed to his disgrace in the West in his later stage of life.
Xie Xiaoliang, a world-renowned biophysical chemist who has been acquainted with Watson since 2018 and now works at Peking University, wrote in a recent memorial article that “perhaps because he [Watson] rose to fame at a young age without shying away from controversy, he often sought to grab attention with startling remarks, even at the cost of drawing criticism”.
“I personally think Watson’s remarks lack scientific basis, and I regret his words and actions, as well as the consequences they have had,” Xie said.
“However, this should not diminish his pioneering contributions to humanity’s understanding of the essence of life.”


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Why ‘racist’ biologist James Watson is remembered in China with respect

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

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James Watson gives a press conference, on October 20, 1962 at Harvard University, after being awarded the Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine, with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. Photo: AFP

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The Shantang Street scenic area in Suzhou, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. Photo: Xinhua

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China

Controversial Nobel Prize winner helped to lay the groundwork for China to become a genomics and biotech powerhouse


Controversial Nobel Prize winner helped to lay the groundwork for China to become a genomics and biotech powerhouse.


Why ‘racist’ biologist James Watson is remembered in China with respect

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Controversial Nobel Prize winner helped to lay the groundwork for China to become a genomics and biotech powerhouse

Controversial Nobel Prize winner helped to lay the groundwork for China to become a genomics and biotech powerhouse