Chen Gao's number came up on July 31－mathematically speaking. The 28-year-old from Rui'an in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, won silver prize at the ninth International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians.

The ICCM Mathematics Prize, the highest award in the field in China, was first given in 1998 to recognize mathematicians under the age of 45 who have made outstanding achievements in basic and applied math, and significant contributions to its advancement.

Chen, a professor at the Institute of Geometry and Physics of the University of Science and Technology of China, has devoted himself to the study of complex geometry.

In 2015, with his tutor Chen Xiuxiong, who is also from the university, he managed to prove that there are only four kinds of gravitational instantons.

Chen Gao was 21 at the time, the age at which Albert Einstein, then an unemployed university graduate, earned his physics teaching diploma.

His proof was an important advancement in the field of differential geometry. After a lengthy review, the paper－entitled "Gravitational instantons with faster than quadratic curvature decay"－was published at the end of last year in journals such as Acta Mathematica, one of the world's four largest mathematical journals.

The concept of an instanton (also known as a pseudoparticle) provides a classic solution for certain equations involving motion in quantum mechanics or quantum field theory.

"I'm deeply honored to receive this ICCM award," Chen Gao said at the awards ceremony. "Researchers of basic mathematics like me must often work on topics not studied by our predecessors. The process of solving these mathematical problems is like a long run that sometimes goes on for several generations. I can use all the help and support I can get."

In the past 100 years, Wenzhou has produced more than 200 top mathematicians. In 2003, it was dubbed the "hometown of mathematicians" by mathematician Chen Xingshen, who once received the Wolf Prize in mathematics, when visiting Wenzhou to stress the city's contributions to the field.

Around 2002, the Wenzhou government launched its Mathematics Cradle Project to cultivate young math talent. In July, the Wenzhou Mathematician Research Center was established at Wenzhou University of Technology, providing an exchange and cooperation platform for local and international mathematicians.

"The center plans to integrate resources, tour domestic universities and institutions, establish a database of Wenzhou mathematicians around the world, develop close contacts and strengthen exchanges, cooperation, and recruitment domestically at institutions such as Zhejiang University and Fudan University," said Lyu Zhaohui, deputy secretary of the Party committee of Wenzhou University of Technology.

Recently, the Wenzhou education bureau has been preparing a plan to strengthen the city's reputation as the "hometown of mathematicians" by introducing math competition coaches and graduates from wellknown universities at home and abroad.

Cooperation in the cultivation of math talent will be strengthened with well-known institutions such as Peking University, Fudan University, Zhejiang University and the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Moreover, a Wenzhou teaching research center for primary and secondary school mathematics will be established under the plan.

The Wenzhou education bureau will also strengthen its cooperation with Wenzhou University and the Wenzhou Science and Technology Association to jointly commit to the math hometown brand.