50 young scientists were awarded Xplorer Prize

Each of the 50 prize winners will be awarded a total of 3 million yuan ($454,200) over the next five years by the Tencent Foundation, according to the prize's sponsor and initiators. The average age of the winners was under 40, and six of them were under 35

The Xplorer Prize was jointly initiated by Tencent Chairman and CEO Pony Ma and 14 scientists in 2018 in a bid to encourage and support full-time Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau-based young scientists aged 45 or below to engage in fundamental science and cutting-edge technology research.

Scientific exploration requires commitment, persistence, tolerance and patience, said Xi Dan, senior vice-president of Tencent, adding scientists often work alone, and people should appreciate the scientists' loneliness.

Han Qide, honorary president of China Association for Science and Technology and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, underlined the necessity of setting up an ambition to do scientific research and making more original research results.

"At the same time, we must encourage the whole society to carry forward the scientific spirit, cultivate scientific culture and popularize scientific knowledge," Han added.