MCLC: seven silences (5)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Magnus Fiskesjo <magnus.fiskesjo at cornell.edu>
Subject: seven silences (5)
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More on the "7 Topics" below.

btw, Professor Lehman's interesting push-pull analysis seems applicable to
China in its entirety . . . !

sincerely, Magnus Fiskesjö

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Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (5/20/13):
http://chronicle.com/article/China-Bans-7-Topics-in/139407/

China Bans 7 Topics in University Classrooms
By Lara Farrar, Shanghai

In an effort to curb Western influence, China's leaders have reportedly
banned the discussion of seven subjects in university classrooms, including
press freedom, universal values, and the historical mistakes of the Chinese
Communist Party.

Chinese professors and political analysts said a recent directive from
Beijing to universities indicated an awareness among the country's leaders
that the government is losing its ideological grip over students and
younger
faculty members.

While many faculty members said they had not been briefed by university
administrators about the taboos, and in some cases had never heard of them,
several professors said university leaders had instructed them at the
beginning of May to avoid the subjects in class. According to academics who
have been told about the list, the other taboo topics are judicial
independence, economic neoliberalism, the wealth accumulated by top
government officials, and civil society.

The list was reportedly issued in May and has not been publicly released or
discussed by the government. Some professors posted news of the taboos on
social media, but their posts were quickly deleted, most likely by censors.
The orders were part of a broader directive from Beijing that told local
officials to "study the situation in China's ideological sphere" and to
"understand the dangers posed by views and theories advocated by the West,"
according to The New York Times. References to the larger document, which
is
titled "Concerning the Situation in the Ideological Sphere," were removed
from Chinese news and government Web sites last week.

Strong Resistance Expected

While discussions of the seven topics have long been scrutinized in China,
some academics do appear to be broaching them in Chinese classrooms.
Students at universities in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, and Shanghai said
they had lecturers who criticized the party in class and talked openly
about
government corruption. In one class at Shanghai's Fudan University,
students
said a professor taught them how to use software that would enable them to
breach the country's Internet fire wall, which is used to keep out ideas
unwelcome to the authorities.

"This is the first time for the party to issue such a request clearly and
in
such specific detail concerning what should be not be taught on campus,"
said Zhang Xuezhong, a law professor at Shanghai's East China University of
Political Science and Law who was briefed about the orders during a staff
meeting on May 8. "This comes at a time when the propaganda orchestrated by
the party and the government is not that influential in an era when new
technology and new communication methods have emerged."

"I am not surprised," Zhang Lifan, a Beijing-based historian and political
commentator, said. "Now on campuses, college professors are also discussing
the truth with students and not just following textbooks. The seven taboos
are measures the government is taking to try to prevent them from talking
about stuff that is the opposite of mainstream ideology."

Zhang Lifan said this was not the first time in recent months that the
Communist Party had seen a need to re-instill leftist values, including
Maoism, Marxism, and socialism with Chinese characteristics, in society.
Last July a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
published
an article in a party magazine on six challenges facing ideology
construction. And Xi Jinping, China's new president, has mentioned the
issue
himself. On May 7 Guangming Daily, a Communist Party newspaper, published
an
editorial reporting that, during a January meeting with party members, Mr.
Xi said the party would not have been able to survive if it had completely
repudiated Mao Zedong after the Cultural Revolution.

Zhang Lifan said that even if the directive was carried out on campuses, he
anticipated strong resistance from professors. "I don't think it will be
possible for the government to push forward the seven taboos on a large
scale," he said. "If it is carried out, the rights of speech of public
intellectuals will be deprived."

A Beijing-based professor who requested anonymity in order to speak
candidly
on an issue that might threaten her job said it was not uncommon for
administrators to warn faculty members not to discuss "sensitive" topics.
But she said students were still able to get access to information even if
it was not discussed on the campus. "I have to point out that students are
much more complex than before," the professor said.

Little Concern at Western Universities

There appeared to be little concern about the seven taboos among
administrators of Western universities with branch campuses in China.
Jeffrey S. Lehman, vice chancellor of New York University's Shanghai
campus,
which is slated to open this fall, said that the university had not
received
a copy of the orders and that "it shouldn't have any impact on us."

Before moving to NYU, Mr. Lehman helped to establish the Peking University
School of Transnational Law, which has been teaching U.S. law to Chinese
students for five years in Shenzhen, a coastal city in southern China. "In
my own experience, there is an ongoing push-pull in China between those
authorities who worry that speech will be destabilizing and those who worry
that speech restrictions will be destabilizing," Mr. Lehman said in an
e-mail to The Chronicle. "The fruit of that push-pull tends to be a
tapestry
of standards applying in different contexts."

Mary Brown Bullock, executive vice chancellor of Duke-Kunshan University,
which is expected to begin academic classes in 2014, said Duke University
officials also had "not received any written or verbal decree from the
Chinese government."

"We have received assurances from our partners and authorities that
Duke-Kunshan University will be accorded the highest level of academic
freedom," Ms. Bullock said in an e-mail.

While administrators at Western educational outposts in China may not be
overly concerned about the taboo-topics list, some Chinese professors said
they were worried.

"If the policy is carried out, red horror will blanket the society," Zhang
Ming, a professor of politics at Beijing's Renmin University, said. "We are
worried we will go back to the Mao era."

"After the document was issued, the government has not come out and
acknowledged it," Ms. Zhang said. "It seems the top leadership hopes to
shake up the party and the government but does not want the outside world
to
know."

Juan Wang contributed to this article.