The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Chinese journalists and bloggers often refer to these instructions as “Directives from the Ministry of Truth.”
State Council Information Office: Websites are asked to delete the article “Alumni Association Open Letter Opposes Appointment of Lin Jianhua as Zhejiang University President.” (June 26, 2013)
国新办：请各网站查删“浙江大学新任校长林建华遭校友会联名上书反对”报道。
Zhejiang University has been without a president since Yang Wei left in March to become Committee Director of China’s National Natural Science Foundation [zh]. On Sunday, a self-identified alumni published an open letter [zh] on Weibo opposing Lin’s appointment [zh] on behalf of “Zhejiang University alumni associations everywhere,” claiming Lin lacks outstanding contribution to his field, has no connection with the university or Zhejiang Province, and that his past two years as president of Chongqing University have been controversial among faculty and staff.
Prof. Lin earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Peking University in 1986. He did post-doctoral work at the Max Plank Institute in Stuttgart, Germany and at Iowa University before returning to Peking University, where he became a full professor in 1995. Lin was appointed president of Zhejiang University by the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee.
CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.
