An exhibition in Shanghai celebrates Einstein’s genius

“FREEDOM OF TEACHING and of opinion in book or press is the foundation for the sound and natural development of any people.” In China even uttering these words in public may get a person into trouble. But it was Albert Einstein who wrote them, and he is officially revered. The quotation appears on bookmarks at the gift shop of the World Expo Museum in Shanghai, where the scientist’s work is being celebrated in an exhibition that opened in August. Einstein visited the city in 1922, locals are proud to recall.

Crowds have been flocking to see the memorabilia, which will be on display until late October. A big draw are Einstein’s notes on special relativity, in which he sets out the formula E=mc². There is no mention of how controversial even the famous theory once was in China. During Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, it was attacked by some scholars in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They wrote a paper describing relativity as “a profound reflection of Western bourgeois reactionary political viewpoints”. In an attempt to restore sanity Zhou Enlai, who was then prime minister, eventually stepped in. “The Jewish nation has produced many outstanding talents. Marx was Jewish, so was Einstein,” he said.