An 82-year-old Chinese Nobel physicist plans to marry a 28-year-old graduate student, whom he has described as his "last gift" from God.
Chen Ning Yang, who returned to China last year following the death of his first wife, plans to marry next month.
His fiancée, Weng Fan, is studying for a masters at Guangdong University.
Mr Yang now teaches at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and an official there told Xinhua news agency that the marriage was a private matter.
"As marriage is a private matter, the [Tsinghua University] official hopes people in all social sectors will respect Yang's choice" - Xinhua news agency
Mr Yang went to study in the US in 1945. He shared the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics with his friend and colleague Tsung-dao Lee for their joint work on so-called parity laws which led to important discoveries regarding elementary particles.
His first wife died in October 2003, and two months later he retired from his post in the US and settled down at Tsinghua University, where his father had been a professor of mathematics.
Taiwan's United Daily News said Mr Yang had told friends of the engagement via an e-mail which included a poem about his fiancée.
"Oh, sweet angel, truthfully you are/ God's benevolent last gift/ To give my old soul/ A joyous rejuvenating lift," the paper quoted the poem as reading.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4103939.stm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-12/17/content_2346372.htm
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Anyone here in a May-December relationship?
Old lumber don't slumber.
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