Xu Zhangrun vs. Tsinghua University
Voices of Protest & Resistance (VII.3)
Dear Readers,
Below we copy the Open Letter to Tsinghua University written in support of Professor Xu Zhangrun 許章潤 and originally published by us on the 5th of April 2019. This letter, which as of 20th April bears 250 signatures (arranged in alphabetical order below), has now been printed for delivery both to the President and to the Communist Party Secretary of Tsinghua University. Some colleagues also signed an earlier Chinese-language letter of protest composed by Tsinghua graduates, and published in both Chinese and English here. (See ‘Speaking Up for a Man Who Dared to Speak Out’, China Heritage, 1 April, 2019.)
China Heritage has also provided an overview of the ‘Xu Case’ through an ongoing series of translations and commentaries published under the title ‘Xu Zhangrun versus Tsinghua University — Voices of Protest and Resistance’ (see ‘The Xu Zhangrun Archive’, listed under Projects on this site). We believe that this material indicates that the treatment of Professor Xu in Beijing is not merely to do with a clumsy official attack on the freedom to teach, research and write that has been rightfully enjoyed by a leading academic at one of China’s most prestigious universities. It also reflects the mounting and systemic crisis in high education (and, indeed, in education more broadly) in China’s People’s Republic. For more on this, see the Editorial Introduction to ‘The Xu Zhangrun Archive’ and the five-part China Heritage series ‘Drop Your Pants! The Party Wants to Patriotise You All Over Again’, 8 August-1 October 2018.
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Andrew J. Nathan and I would like to thank all the colleagues and friends who have supported this appeal. As there is continuing interest in the ‘Xu Case’, others who may wish to add their names to the Open Letter should send their details to:
ProfXu2019@gmail.com
China Heritage will publish a further list of signatories in the coming months.
— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
22 April 2019
An Open Letter to Tsinghua University
April 22, 2019
Dr. Qiu Yong
President
Tsinghua University
Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
Dr. Chen Xu
Party Secretary
Tsinghua University
Haidian District, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China
Dear President Qiu and Secretary Chen,
Tsinghua University, one of the most highly ranked universities in the world, has suffered severe damage to its academic reputation as a consequence of the university’s punishment of Professor Xu Zhangrun.
As members of the international academic community, we urge the university to restore Professor Xu’s normal status in the university, including his teaching and research duties, and to refrain from any further sanctions against him.
Sincerely,
Nick Admussen
Cornell University
Stephen C. Angle
Wesleyan University
Tomoko Ako
The University of Tokyo
Geremie R. Barmé
The Australian National University
Robbie Barnett
University of Cambridge
Emily Baum
University of California, Irvine
Bill Bauriedel
Stanford University
Jean-Philippe Béja
CNRS/CERI-Sciences-Po
(Centre de Recherches Internationales)
Marie Claire Bergere
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Ilaria Biagioli
Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Ester Bianchi
Perugia University
Lucien Bianco
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Sarah Biddulph
The University of Melbourne
Jean François Billeter
University of Geneva
Gill H. Boehringer
International Association of People’s Lawyers
Michel Bonnin
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Joseph Bosco
Georgetown University
David Bray
The University of Sydney
Claire-Akiko Brisset
University of Geneva
Timothy Brook
University of British Columbia
David Brophy
University of Sydney
Katia Buffetrille
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
Marianne Bastid-Bruguière
Académie des sciences morales et politiques, Institut de France
Marianne Bujard
Ecole pratique des hautes études, Paris
Ian Buruma
Bard College
Paola Calanca
French School of Asian Studies
Daniela Campo
University of Strasbourg
Vittorio Capecchi
University of Bologna
Catherine Capdeville
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Kevin Carrico
Monash University
Anita Chan
Australian National University
Hing-Ho Chan
French National Centre for Scientific Research
Jonathan Chaves
The George Washington University
Timothy Cheek
University of British Columbia
Ding Chen
University of Sheffield
Yu-Jie Chen
Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica
Louisa Chiang
Independent Writer
Feng Chongyi
University of Technology Sydney
Eva S. Chou
Baruch College, City University of New York
Jennifer Chou
Journalist
Karen Christensen
Berkshire Publishing Group LLC
Andrew Chubb
Columbia University
Donald Clarke
George Washington University
Alan W. Clarke
Utah Valley University
Tom Cliff
Australian National University
Craig Clunas
University of Oxford
Jerome A. Cohen
New York University
Alison W. Conner
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
Lois Conner
New York
Anders Corr
Journal of Political Risk
John A. Crespi
Colgate University
Amina Crisma
University of Bologna
Cui Wei
University of British Columbia
Vincent Durand-Dastès
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Michael C. Davis
Woodrow Wilson International Center
Gloria Davies
Monash University
Deborah Davis
Yale University
Kirk Denton
Ohio State University
Zhang Dong
University of Applied Sciences Ludwigshafen
Darrell Dorrington
Australian National University
June Teufel Dreyer
University of Miami
Clayton Dube
University of Southern California
Josephine Chiu-Duke
University of British Columbia
George Dutton
University of California, Los Angeles
Michael Dutton
University of London
Stephen Epstein
Victoria University of Wellington
Guilhem Fabre
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Fredrik Fällman
University of Gothenburg
James V. Feinerman
Georgetown University
Magnus Fiskesjö
Cornell University
Steven FitzGerald
Former Australian Ambassador to China
Martin S. Flaherty
Princeton University
Ivan Franceschini
The Australian National University
Vanessa Frangville
Free University of Brussels
Sally Frank
Drake University
Edward Friedman
University of Wisconsin
Chloe Froissart
University of Rennes
Fu Hualing
The University of Hong Kong
Andreas Fulda
University of Nottingham
Luca Gabbiani
French School of Asian Studies
Roger Garside
Former officer of the British Diplomatic Service
Beatrice Gallelli
Ca’ Foscari University
Nicola Gasbarro
Universita Di Udine
Ken George
The Australian National University
Paul Gewirtz
Yale University
Frank Gibney Jr.
Independent Writer & Editor
Brunswick, ME USA
Laura De Giorgi
University Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Bruno Giorgini
University of Bologna
Todd Gitlin
Columbia University
Myron Gochnauer
University of New Brunswick, Canada
Jeremy Goldkorn
SupChina
Jane Golley
The Australian National University
Richard Gordon
Independent Filmmaker
Long Bow Group Inc.
Romain Graziani
Ecole normale supérieure de Lyon
Raissa De Gruttola
Perugia University – Italy
Eric Haag
University of Maryland, College Park
Terence Halliday
American Bar Foundation and Australian National University
James M. Hargett
The University at Albany, State University of New York
Baogang He
Deakin University
Gail Hershatter
University of California, Santa Cruz
Carma Hinton
George Mason University
Carsten A. Holz
Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Marie Holzman
Solidarity China
Charles Horner
Hudson Institute
Ke Chiang Hsieh
University of Arizona
Jaw-Nian Huang
Tamkang University, Taipei
Jean-François Huchet
National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisation
Wai How Hui
University of Waterloo and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Victoria Hui
University of Notre Dame
Chang-tai Hung
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Tomoaki Ishii
Meiji University
Linda Jaivin
Centre on China in the World, Australian National University
Ronald R. Janssen
Hofstra University
Zhe Ji
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Nan Jiang
University of Maryland, College Park
Ha Jin
Boston University
Marja Kaikkonen
Stockholm University
Kai Kajitani
Kobe University
Zhengguo Kang
Yale University
Thierry Kellner
Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Anne Kerlan
French National Centre for Scientific Research
Jeffrey C. Kinkley
Portland State University
Ondrej Klimes
Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences
Jon Eugene von Kowallis
University of New South Wales
Wyman Kwok
Former associate professor at Shantou University
Christine Lamarre
National Institute for Oriental Languages and Cultures
Christian Lamouroux
École des hautes études en sciences sociales
Diana Lary
University of British Columbia
Françoise Lauwaert
Free University of Brussels
Valérie Lavoix
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Daniel Leese
University of Freiburg
James Leibold
La Trobe University
Paul Levine
Copenhagen University
Steven I. Levine
University of Montana
Xiaolin Li
Columbia University
Wah Guan Lim
The University of New South Wales
Thunghong Lin
Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica
Perry Link
University of California, Riverside
Bonbon Little
Tsinghua University
Olga Lomova
Charles University, Prague
Winston Lord
former US Ambassador to China
Nicholas Loubere
Lund University
Julia Lovell
University of London
Richard Madsen
University of California, San Diego
Sumitendra Mazumdar
University of Arizona
Barrett L. McCormick
Marquette University
Tommy McClellan
University of Edinburgh
Donata Meneghelli
Università di Bologna
John Minford
The Australian National University
Marina Miranda
University of Rome “Sapienza”
Eberhard Möbius
University of New Hampshire
Brian Moloughney
University of Otago
Peter Moody
University of Notre Dame
Dani Madrid-Morales
University of Houston
Steven W. Mosher
Population Research Institute
Andrew J. Nathan
Columbia University
Kirin Narayan
Australian National University
Fan Ni
The University of Western Australia
Ryan Nichols
California State University, Fullerton
Roger E. Noether
National Taiwan University
Pan Junliang
Université Paris Diderot
Giangiorgio Pasqualotto
Padua University
Luisa M. Paternicò
“L’Orientale” University of Naples
Michael Paton
University of Sydney
Peter C. Perdue
Yale University
François Picard
président, Société française d’ethnomusicologie
Eva Pils
King’s College London
Angel Pino
Université Bordeaux Montaigne
Pitman Potter
University of British Columbia
Richard Qian
Tsinghua University
William P. Quigley
Loyola University, New Orleans
Isabelle Rabut
National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisation
John A. Rapp
Beloit College
Christopher Rea
University of British Columbia
Annie Luman Ren
The Australian National University
Sophie Richardson
Human Rights Watch
Richard Rigby
Australian National University
Stein Ringen
University of Oxford
Molly Roberts
University of California, San Diego
Matthew Robertson
The Australian National University
Christopher Rosenmeier
University of Edinburgh
Stuart Russell
Macquarie University, Australia
Elisa Levi Sabattini
L’Orientale University of Naples-Italy
Paolo Santangelo
Sapienza University of Rome
Sally Sargeson
The Australian National University
Elaine C. Sartorelli
Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Martin Sattler
Pepperdine University Heidelberg
Maurizio Scarpari
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
David C. Schak
Griffith University
Orville Schell
Asia Society
Gary J. Schmitt
American Enterprise Institute
Vera Schwarcz
Wesleyan University
Leo K. Shin
University of British Columbia
Victor Shih
University of California, San Diego
Susan Shirk
University of California, San Diego
Mark Sidel
University of Wisconsin-Madison
William Sima
Australian National University
Gabriele von Sivers-Sattler
Independent scholar, Heidelberg, Germany
Callum Smith
Kanazawa University
Craig Smith
University of Melbourne
Yanjuan Song
Boston University
Yongyi Song
California State University, Los Angeles
Pierre-François Souyri
University of Geneva
Warren Sun
Monash University
Marina Svensson
Lund University
Michael Szonyi
Harvard University
Osamu Takamizawa
The University of Tokyo
Liwen Chen Tardieu
Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales
Dagmar Thiele
Independent scholar, Munich, Germany
Isabelle Thireau
School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences
Patricia M. Thornton
University of Oxford
Glenn Tiffert
Hoover Institution
Sue Trevaskes
Griffith University
Rory Truex
Princeton University
Steve Tsang
University of London
Chien-Yuan Tseng
National Taiwan University
Jonathan Unger,
The Australian National University
Sebastian Veg
School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences
Florent Villard
Rennes Institute of Political Studies
Rudolf G. Wagner
Heidelberg University, Germany
Arthur Waldron
University of Pennsylvania
Wang Chaohua
University of California, Los Angeles
Yu Wang
Beijing University
Yuan-kang Wang
Western Michigan University
Jeffrey Wasserstrom
University of California, Irvine
Mariko Watanabe
Gakushuin University
Jeremy Webber
University of Victoria
Ralph Weber
University of Basel
Gerrit van der Wees
Department of History George Mason University
Frances Weightman
University of Leeds
Lynn T. White III
Princeton University
Stephen H. Whiteman
The University of London
Susan Whitfield
Scholar, Writer and Lecturer, London
Martin K. Whyte
Harvard University
Pierre-Etienne Will
Collège de France
Philip Williams
Montana State University
Jieh-min Wu
Academia Sinica
Renee Xia
The Network of Chinese Human Rights Defenders
Qiang Xiao
University of California, Berkeley
Haiqing Yu
RMIT University
Lukas Zadrapa
Institute of East Asian Studies
Charles University, Prague
Peter Zarrow
University of Connecticut
Jianying Zha
India China Institute, New York City
Karl K. Zhang
George Mason University
Laure Zhang
University of Geneva
Lun Zhang
University of Cergy Pontoise, France
Zhou Xianchu
The University of Hong Kong
Yu Zhou
Vassar College
Nicolas Zufferey
University of Geneva