Communist China Strengthens Stance against Academic Freedom

From 2014 to 2017, as every new semester started, students were surprised to find that their favorite professors had simply disappeared. Students were often told, indirectly, to not talk or ask about where those professors were. The air was filled with a “flame of incandescent terror of which the tongues declare the one discharge from sin and error” (T.S. Eliot, Four quartets).

Professor Shi Jiepeng, Beijing Normal University, July 2017

Students in the classical Chinese class at Beijing Normal University lost their talented Professor Shi, who ran an online microblog with over 130,000 followers. Professor Shi, 39 years old, was fired by university authorities. He was accused of having “had for a long time made mistaken comments online, which cause a negative impact in society.” As a university professor, he was not fired for his teachings or academic work, but for the blogs he posted online in which he criticized the Communist Party, referring to Mao as a devil, and embracing Western civilization.

Professor Li Mohai, Shandong Institute of Industry and Commerce, August 2017

In Shandong Institute of Industry and Commerce, students were shocked to learn that the dean of political studies, a long-term Communist Party member, Professor Li, was expelled from his position. Professor Li was fired, not because he refused to teach Marxism and Maoism, but because he criticized government propaganda via his microblog account. Some netizens found his post and reported to the police. Then, trouble came.

“Shock and Awe” Censorship

The two fired professors represent the fate of millions of Chinese intellectuals. No Google, No Facebook, No Twitter. The only online social media available is the government-run Weibo, which is highly censored and monitored. Keep in mind - Secret police watch every word posted online, and one day, they show up at your door, just because you “accidentally” posted your true thoughts.

Luckily, I found one Professor Li’s post, which was not deleted, because the government wanted to use it as a propaganda tool to “educate” people. When I read his post, I was impressed on his logic and scholarly reasoning. The following is an excerpt from his posted comments that I translated from Chinese.

“People is a political concept, while citizen is a legal term. The term ‘people’ is vague. When you say people, there is no name or any individual property. The rule is that, without a name or any mark of individual property, people’s interests can be easily taken or invaded. Why do some individuals embrace communism? It is because the wealth of the people has no name or mark of belongings. Those individuals on the top leadership posts can easily monopolize and redistribute our wealth and properties. Why do some individuals support capitalism? It is because citizens have properties, and each property is protected by law. Monopolizing and redistributing citizens’ property is robbery, and robbery is a criminal conduct. In the communist system, “people” is a favorable term, because government can easily control, bully, and manipulate people. That is why people can be laid off, and forced to move. People almost have no means to protect themselves. In the capitalist system, every citizen has a first name and second name. Citizens can freely make a living, and freely move to different places. It is difficult to be controlled. According to the doctrine of Communism, the antonym of people is enemy.”

As Professor Li remarked, if we Chinese choose to be the so-called “people”, we lose our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of press; we must succumb to the dictator. My voice, representing millions of Chinese, is that we want to be citizens with all our unalienable rights. Sadly, the government sees us as enemies.

Human rights are not a privilege granted by the few, they are a liberty entitled to all, and human rights, by definition, include the rights of all humans, those in the dawn of life, the dusk of life, or the shadows of life. – Kay Granger (U.S. Representative)