Professor quietly takes student’s work and files it as a patent in China

This is absolutely hilarious, a really funny little grift.

Having said that, the resolution to this is obvious - the professor is going to get quietly asked to leave the university, the patent could never be used since there's very clear prior art - not that it ever would, since it's only valid in China, the student doesn't seem like they're actually pursuing the idea, and if it were ever applied I suspect it'd only be a pretext which would screw you in China anyway.

Obviously the idea of pursuing the professor for stealing the work seems likely to be a dead end. Of course getting a guilt payment out of the university may be one avenue, although UK universities are pretty tight and perfectly willing to throw their staff under the bus.

I've got to say, I can't imagine this is the only time this has happened. Maybe we're about to find a whole slew of these incidents.

I'd talk to a solicitor in Hong Kong. Offer them 20% contingency on any royalties they can get you.

Maybe he was paid to transfer the work to China, in an espionage kind of way.

To what degree are patents like this respected and/or enforced in China?