Dear colleagues,
In response to the situation currently faced by our Sydney colleague Feng Chongyi (http://www.smh.com.au/national/uts-professor-chongyi-fengs-daughter-yunsi-feng-calls-for-his-return-to-australia-20170330-gva8n6.html), concerned scholars have worked together to draft and collect initial signatures on an open letter in support of Feng.
If you would like to sign this open letter, please email scholars.for.feng@gmail.com with your name and affiliation. Please also feel welcome to share the content of this message with anyone else who may be interested in signing.
I appreciate your taking the time to consider this.
Thanks,
Kevin Carrico <scholars.for.feng@gmail.com>
An open letter to President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang
Dear President Xi and Prime Minister Li,
We the undersigned are members of the global China Studies community. We are deeply concerned by the travel restrictions recently placed upon Professor Feng Chongyi of the University of Technology Sydney, which have prevented him from departing the People’s Republic of China and returning to his workplace and family in Sydney since last week.
Professor Feng is an internationally respected scholar of intellectual and political developments in modern and contemporary China. He is the author of a number of groundbreaking books, and a frequent commentator on issues of importance in the Australian media. He is, furthermore, a vital contributor to the global China Studies community, and his presence in Australia has significantly enhanced its learning and research environments in Chinese Studies.
We are disturbed that a fellow researcher, who has dedicated himself to promote the understanding of and interest in China, has been prevented from returning to his home and workplace for no reason other than his conscientious work as a China Studies scholar. Such actions make it difficult for the rest of us to be confident in the research environment in China today, and do not contribute positively to the continued construction of open and productive higher education collaboration between China and the rest of the world.
In light of China’s commitment to expanding international scholarly engagements, we respectfully request that Professor Feng be released and permitted to return to his workplace and home in Sydney.
Oscar Almén, Uppsala University
Geremie R Barmé, The Australian National University
Mark Beeson, The University of Western Australia
Jean-Philippe Béja, CERI-Sciences-Po
Jonathan Benney, Monash University
Gregor Benton, Cardiff University
David Brophy, University of Sydney
Kerry Brown, King’s College, London
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Hong Kong Baptist University
Kevin Carrico, Macquarie University
Carolyn Cartier, University of Technology, Sydney
Anita Chan, The Australian National University
Vivien Wai-wan Chan, University of Technology, Sydney
Jie Chen, University of Western Australia
Minglu Chen, University of Sydney
Jocelyn Chey, Western Sydney University
Josephine Chiu-Duke, University of British Columbia
Andrew Chubb, University of Western Australia
John Clark, University of Sydney
Michael Clarke, The Australian National University
J. Michael Cole, University of Nottingham, CPI
Anders Corr, U.S. Naval Institute
Gloria Davies, Monash University
Michael C. Davis, University of Hong Kong
Bonnie Dawson, University of New South Wales
Frank Dikötter, University of Hong Kong
Clayton Dube, University of Southern California
Richard Louis Edmonds, Retired
Antonia Finnane, University of Melbourne
John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology
Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Hualing Fu, The University of Hong Kong
Mark Harrison, University of Tasmania
Colin Hawes, University of Technology, Sydney
Emily M. Hill, Queen’s University
Christina Ho, University of Technology, Sydney
Charles Horner, Hudson Institute
Zejia Hu (MA, University of Technology, Sydney)
Judy Huo, Artist
Christopher R. Hughes, London School of Economics
Victoria Hui, University of Notre Dame
J. Bruce Jacobs, Monash University
Ellen R. Judd, University of Manitoba
Carolin Kautz, Goettingen University
Andrew Kipnis, The Australian National University
Jon Eugene von Kowallis, University of New South Wales
Mabel Lee, University of Sydney
Seong-Hyon Lee, The Sejong Institute
James Leibold, La Trobe University
Perry Link, University of California, Riverside
John Makeham, La Trobe University
Ryan Manuel, The Australian National University
Rory Medcalf, National Security College, The Australian National University
Alice Lyman Miller, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University
Elisa Nesossi, The Australian National University
Heidi Norman, University of Technology, Sydney
Tim Oakes, University of Colorado
Eva Pils, Kings College London
John Pretty, University of New South Wales
Stein Ringen, University of Oxford
David C. Schak, Griffith University
Orville Schell, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society
Victor Shih, University of California, San Diego
Fred Smith, Macquarie University
Alvin Y. So, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Dorothy Solinger, University of California, Irivine
Yongyi Song, California State University, Los Angeles
Warren Sun, Monash University
Susan Tan, The Australian National University
Frederick Teiwes, University of Sydney
Steve Tsang, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Jonathan Unger, The Australian National University
Carsten Vala, Loyola University Maryland
Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania
Jeffrey Wasserstrom, University of California, Irvine
Martin Whyte, Harvard University
Martin Williams (PhD, University of Technology, Sydney, 2005)
Teresa Wright, California State University, Long Beach
Ming Xia, The City University of New York
Haiqing Yu, The University of New South Wales
Jinjiang Zhong, Australian Values Alliance
Jinsheng (Wenzheng Zhu), Author
David Zweig, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Kevin Carrico
Lecturer, Chinese Studies
Dept. of International Studies
Macquarie University
Building W6A, Room 227
Ryde, NSW 2109 Australia
https://mq.academia.edu/KevinCarrico
Tibet on Fire: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2051-tibet-on-fire