Cryptography prodigy returns home to become one of China’s youngest professors

Born when few had even heard of the internet, 29-year-old Zhao Mang will now play a key role in securing the future of China’s cyber information

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After eight years studying abroad, Zhao Mang has returned to China to take up a full professorship and help boost the nation’s cybersecurity. Photo: Wuhan University

Published: 8:00pm, 18 Mar 2025

When the newest professor at China’s prestigious Wuhan University was born, the country had just taken its first steps to extend the internet nationwide, a service that was better known at the time as the World Wide Web.

So it was remarkable earlier this month when Zhao Mang became the youngest professor at the university in central China’s Hubei province. Zhao, who has spent eight years training overseas in cryptography and impressing the cyber academic community, is 29.

Zhao is now a full professor at the university’s School of Cyber Science and Engineering, according to an article posted to the university’s social media account on Saturday.

“Given the realistic needs and the international situation, Zhao hopes to cultivate cryptographic talent and promote the profession in China,” the university said in the article, adding that the field was seeing more demand, but also more challenges.

Zhao’s research has focused on applied cryptography, with a particular interest in cryptographic analysis of protocols, as well as key exchange and secure messaging.

Wuhan University has described cryptography as a “core discipline” that is critical to protecting information and even national security, but also has widespread implications for everyday life, ranging from chat encryption in social networking software to secure transactions in online banking.

Zhao earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science in Germany 2018. He completed his PhD last year at Germany’s CISPA Helmholtz Centre for Information Security and then worked on postdoctoral research.