Are China’s university lecturers exploiting their traditional ‘godfatherly’ roles to abuse students?

The suicides of two university students 20 years apart have renewed concerns about the abuse of power by professors on Chinese campuses, a problem rooted in the school system’s flaws and traditional Chinese culture.

Tao Chongyuan was 26 and a postgraduate student at Wuhan University of Technology in the central province of Hubei when he jumped to his death on March 26.

Tao’s family has accused his professor and supervisor, Wang Pan, of exploiting Tao and coercing him to do things like buying his meals, doing his laundry and even confessing his “love” for him as a son to a “father”, based on messages the two exchanged.

Wang was also said to have threatened to expel Tao from his lab and revoke his degree when he applied for doctoral programmes overseas and later received job offers, according to Tao’s sister.

Wang has denied any exploitation of Tao.

The school said it had halted Wang from recruiting master’s degree students.