Criticism of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China

Stephen Morgan, a foreign vice president of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, was removed from the management committee by the university because he published an article criticizing the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

According to Sing Tao Daily today (3rd), the University of Nottingham Ningbo was established in 2004 by the University of Nottingham and Zhejiang Wanli University. It is the first Sino-foreign joint university established since 1949, with 7,800 students.Yang Fujia, the president of the school, was once the president of Fudan University and the University of Nottingham.

According to reports, Sima Hui is a professor of Chinese economic history. He once worked at the School of Contemporary Chinese Studies at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. In 2013, he served as the dean of the School of Social Sciences at the University of Nottingham Ningbo.

At the end of last year, he wrote the above-mentioned article criticizing the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for Asia Dialogue, an online magazine of the Asia Institute of the University of Nottingham.

Six months after the article was published, CCP officials at the University of Nottingham Ningbo attempted to remove Sima Hui from his management position.They believe the article embarrasses the school.

According to two people familiar with the matter, the CCP officials objected to the re-employment of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China.One of the people also pointed out that Sima Hui had previously been critical of China-backed measures more broadly, including a ban on the import of textbooks deemed sensitive by officials.

In the face of the school's move, Sima Hui confirmed that he no longer holds the position of the management committee of the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, but still holds a teaching position.He declined to comment further on the matter, saying only that regular changes to the management board were routine.

The report quoted the British Financial Times as saying that Sima Hui's dismissal marked a setback for Chinese-foreign joint universities in China.