Seven subjects off limits for teaching, Chinese universities told
Civil rights, press freedom and party's mistakes among subjects banned from teaching in order described by an academic as back-pedalling
Mainland universities have been ordered to steer clear of seven topics in their teaching, including universal values, press freedom and civil rights, two university staff said, offering an insight into ideological control under the new Communist Party leaders.
A law professor with a Shanghai-based university who requested anonymity because he feared persecution said yesterday that teaching staff at his university had been briefed about the seven taboo subjects, which also include judicial independence and the past mistakes of the Communist Party.
Are we still a university if we are not allowed to talk about even civil rights and press freedom?
"Are we still a university if we are not allowed to talk about even civil rights and press freedom?" he asked.
He said he had no idea which party department had given the order, saying they were simply told that it came from the party's Central Committee.
A Beijing-based industrial relations professor said yesterday the order, in the form of a classified document, had come from the General Office of the party's Central Committee, and only a select group of teaching and administrative staff at his university had been briefed about it.
The Beijing professor, who also declined to be named, said he had not personally seen the document but had been briefed on it because he had been outspoken.
