Dong Mingzhu: I feel so sad that Midea won the National Science and Technology Progress Award

On March 8, Gree Electric held a press conference at the Guangdong delegation's residence at the Capital Hotel. Dong Mingzhu, a deputy to the National People's Congress and chairman and president of Gree Electric, publicly criticized Midea, saying, "Midea's electricity consumption has dropped from one kilowatt-hour per night to as low as 1 kilowatt-hour per night. With such technology, they can even win the National Science and Technology Progress Award. I think it is a sad thing that they use such a title to deceive us consumers."

On January 20 this year, Weibo user "Chen Jin 1982" reported Midea's academic fraud in his real name on Weibo. The user claimed to be a "technical standards researcher in the field of refrigeration and air-conditioning."

In his report, Chen Jin pointed out that the corporate standards implemented by the project "Research and Industrialization of Key Technologies for Energy Saving in Room Air Conditioners" led by Guangdong Midea Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. did not meet the requirements of national standardization regulations. Its main innovation, "...compared with air conditioners of the same level at home and abroad, power consumption is reduced by 65.1%...", was not credible. He hoped that the country would revoke the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award it won in 2014.

On January 22, a Weibo user named "Air Conditioning Professional Engineer Li Meng" posted a message, also reporting that Gree was suspected of fraud in winning the National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2011, saying that Gree had seriously falsified many "key data" and "new content" in the project "Research and Application of Key Technologies for Inverter Air Conditioners".

Gree Electric announced on January 29, 2016 that it would sue Midea engineer Li Meng in the Xiangzhou District Court of Zhuhai, where its headquarters is located, in order to protect its reputation. Not long after, Midea also filed a lawsuit against Chen Jin, a Gree engineer, in the Shunde District Court of Foshan City, who had previously reported on Midea in his personal capacity.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.