The Chinese team that shared the championship with the US team at the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad Photo: Sina Weibo account of thepaper.cn

Team China returned to become champions after four years alongside the US at the 60th International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), according to result released on the IMO website on Saturday.

The competition was held in the University of Bath, England from July 16 to 17. Six high-school contestants on the Chinese team won gold medals and two achieved a perfect score of 42. 

They shared the championship with the US team with a score of 227, according to the website.

The Global Times' reporter found that five of the six US contestants were of Chinese descent, including the team leader and deputy leader. Five students of Chinese descent were also found in the Canadian team. 

"The US has paid more attention to mathematics competition and many Chinese-US teenagers are devoted to it," Yun Zhiwei, a math professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told guancha.cn, adding that "these offspring of Chinese immigrants are as good as students trained in China, which intensified the competition."

This year's victory marks the first time in eight years that all the Chinese contestants won gold medals, media reported. 

Of the 200 Chinese high-school students who participated in the competition since China joined in 1985 there have been 157 gold medals, 35 silver medals and six bronze medals. 

China holds the record for the most gold medals in the competition, followed by the US with 130 golden medals and Russia with 99 golden medals. 

Chinese education and science authorities released a document on July 12, aiming to strengthen math research and study. They said that China will continuously support basic math and strengthen applied mathematics. 

The release came about four months after the Chinese team ranked sixth among 135 participants at the Romanian Master of Mathematics competition.

The IMO is the world championship math competition for high school students held annually in a different country. 

The first competition was held in 1959 in Romania and it has expanded to 112 countries and regions this year, the IMO's website said.

Team USA won last year's IMO with a score of 212 while China came third with 199.