Sino FileWhy China’s crackdown on academic freedom will backfire

Beijing’s recent decision to remove a statement about academic freedom sparked protests at Fudan University – and they had a point

This political suppression runs counter to Xi Jinping’s programme of ‘national rejuvenation’, undermining its reach for a knowledge-based economy

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A screengrab of the censored video clip showing dozens of students taking part in a flash mob demonstration against changes to Fudan University’s charter. Photo: YouTube

Published: 11:00am, 29 Dec 2019Updated: 11:00am, 29 Dec 2019

Chinese academics and intellectuals should not have been enraged by the communist leadership’s move to drop a written statement about academic freedom from the charters of a handful of universities. Not only has there rarely been such freedom in China since the founding of the people’s republic in 1949, this rarity is commonplace in communist-ruled nations.

But when the government’s decision to drop the statement from the charter of Shanghai’s Fudan University came to light on December 17, it sparked a rare act of defiance. Students gathered in a cafeteria during their lunch break and joined in a rendition of school’s official anthem, which extols “academic independence and freedom of thought”. Professors and educators continued to show their discontent by joining in a chorus of the anthem on December 21, when they gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the school’s world economics department.

A video clip of the protests that went viral on social media triggered not only alarm among faculty and students alike, but also an explosive proliferation of critical and satirical comments before the government’s ever-vigilant censors acted to delete the clip.

A sign at the Fudan University campus in Shanghai. Photo: AFP

The education ministry said it had approved alterations to the charter for three universities. The key word “independently” was removed from the original, which reads “the school independently and autonomously runs the university” and “teachers and students independently and autonomously conduct academic studies”. The revised version says that the university needs to “equip its teachers and employees” with “Xi Jinping Thought”, which was enshrined in the party’s constitution in 2017.