The failure, once again, of Chinese scholars to win a single Nobel Prize has embarrassed the country's academics and become a topic of heated discussion in the Chinese media and blogs.

That Chinese scholars remain bystanders when the top academic prizes are dished out is partly down to their lack of creativity and, perhaps, conscious or unconscious bias against China on Nobel Committee. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that China consistently fails to produce world-class research, whether in the natural sciences or the humanities. We need to get to the root of the problem. I believe it is the Chinese preoccupation with "saving face" that is keeping Chinese scholars off the Nobel list.