Abstract: Based on the accounts of involved individuals and firsthand materials such as preserved recordings, manuscripts, and correspondence, this article systematically reconstructs the history of the discovery, naming, and publication process of Metasequoia glyptostroboides (dawn redwood). These testimonies recount truths that have been unknown or unclear to the world until now, and are almost entirely being made public for the first time. This article also examines several contentious issues from the perspective of academic ethics. The study leads to the following conclusions: as a professional scholar, Wang Chan collected and systematically studied the first specimen of M. glyptostroboides and consulted Cheng Wan-chun to verify whether it represented an undescribed new species. Thus, Wang Chan should be recognized as the first discoverer of the species. Cheng Wan-chun confirmed that the specimen collected by Wang Chan belonged to a new species. Hu Hsien-hsu named the species and published it as M. glyptostroboides together with Cheng Wan-chun. Yang Lung-hsing shared crucial information about the tree with Wang Chan, leading to the discovery process, while Kan To contributed nothing to the discovery of the species and thus should not be mentioned when describing the event of discovering the species. The naming and publication of M. glyptostroboides were based on the preliminary work of Wang Chan and subsequent studies by other researchers. However, in the final publication, Wang Chan was neither listed as an author nor was his specimen cited; moreover, deliberately fabricated narratives were introduced. The historical investigation into the true discovery of the dawn redwood reveals a serious issue of scientific integrity, one that warrants careful reflection and scrutiny by the academic community.