According to Hong Kong dailies dated May 11, university officials in Beijing and Shanghai were reported as saying authorities had directed them to refrain from teaching seven subjects in their classes including “freedom of the press,” “human rights” and “universal values.”
Discontent in China, especially among youth, is rising due to problems such as environmental pollution and the widening gap between rich and poor. The move by authorities is seen as an attempt to strengthen control over speech and ideology. Objecting to the directive, a Shanghai university professor said, “If we cannot debate issues such as freedom of the press and civil rights, how can we be called a university?”
Other forbidden topics for the classroom include “civil society,” “historical mistakes of the communist party” and the “impendent administration of justice.” The term “bourgeoisie with influential assets,” which is used to describe a privileged class of authorities who have emerged under one-party rule, is also banned from being used. In the Hong Kong papers, critics of Beijing pointed out, “these seven forbidden subjects, in fact, represent the very problems facing China’s system of authoritative rule today.”