The following open letter, signed by 156 scholars from around the world, was sent in response to Sydney-based professor Feng Chongyi’s week-long confinement to China and repeated questioning by security officials. Feng, who had been in China to conduct research on the country’s rights lawyers, returned to Australia on April 2. The organizers have requested that the letter be posted here with the full list of signatures “to make our position clear,” and “as a testament to the collective pressure to release Feng.”

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
• Ross Anthony, Stellenbosch University
• Geremie R Barmé, Australian National University
• Robert Barnett, Columbia University
• Mark Beeson, University of Western Australia
• Jean-Philippe Béja, CERI-Sciences-Po
• Jonathan Benney, Monash University
• Gregor Benton, Cardiff University
• Chris Berry, King’s College London
• Gill Boehringer, Macquarie University
• Michel Bonnin, École des hautes études en sciences sociales
• Anne-Marie Brady, University of Canterbury
• David Brophy, University of Sydney
• Kerry Brown, King’s College, London
• Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Hong Kong Baptist University
• William A. Callahan, London School of Economics
• Duncan Campbell (retired), Australian National University
• Kevin Carrico, Macquarie University
• Carolyn Cartier, University of Technology Sydney
• Anita Chan, Australian National University
• Lai-Ha Chan, University of Technology Sydney
• Vivien Wai-wan Chan, University of Technology Sydney
• Timothy Cheek, University of British Columbia
• Gordon Chang, Independent scholar
• Jie Chen, University of Western Australia
• Minglu Chen, University of Sydney
• Alvin Y.H. Cheung, New York University
• 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, Australian National University
• Tom Cliff, Australian National University
• Maggie Clinton, Middlebury College
• Jerome Cohen, New York University
• J. Michael Cole, University of Nottingham, CPI
• Alison W. Conner, University of Hawai`i at Manoa
• Christen Cornell, University of Sydney
• Anders Corr, U.S. Naval Institute
• Gloria Davies, Monash University
• Michael C. Davis, University of Hong Kong
• Bonnie Dawson, University of New South Wales
• Kirk A. Denton, Ohio State University
• Frank Dikötter, University of Hong Kong
• Clayton Dube, University of Southern California
• Helen Dunstan, University of Sydney
• Richard Louis Edmonds, Retired
• Louise Edwards, University of New South Wales
• Mary S. Erbaugh, University of Oregon
• Joseph W. Esherick, University of California, San Diego
• Joseph Fewsmith, Professor, Boston University
• Antonia Finnane, University of Melbourne
• Lucy Fiske, University of Technology Sydney
• John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology
• Caroline Fleay, Curtin University
• Ivan Franceschini, Australian National University
• Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Hualing Fu, University of Hong Kong
• Gerry Groot, University of Adelaide
• Terence Halliday, Australian National University
• Mark Harrison, University of Tasmania
• Jonathan Hassid, Iowa State University
• Colin Hawes, University of Technology Sydney
• Baogang He, Deakin University
• 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
• Andrea Janku, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
• Ronald R. Janssen, Hofstra University
• Nicholas Jose, University of Adelaide
• Ellen R. Judd, University of Manitoba
• Rebecca E. Karl, New York University
• Carolin Kautz, Goettingen University
• Marja Kaikkonen, Stockholm University
• John Keane, University of Sydney and WZB Berlin
• Pauline Keating, Victoria University of Wellington
• Katrin Kinzelbach, Central European University
• Andrew Kipnis, Australian National University
• Lucas Klein, University of Hong Kong
• Jon Eugene von Kowallis, University of New South Wales
• Uganda Sze Pui Kwan, Nanyang Technological University
• Mabel Lee, University of Sydney
• Pak K. Lee, University of Kent
• Seong-Hyon Lee, Sejong Institute
• James Leibold, La Trobe University
• Perry Link, University of California, Riverside
• Jake Lynch, University of Sydney
• John Makeham, La Trobe University
• Ryan Manuel, Australian National University
• Brian G. Martin, Australian National University
• Lewis Mayo, University of Melbourne
• Anne McLaren, University of Melbourne
• Barrett L. McCormick, Marquette University
• Kevin McCready, Chinese Translator, Auckland
• Rory Medcalf, Australian National University
• Georgia Mickey, California State Polytechnic University
• Alice Lyman Miller, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University
• Elisa Nesossi, Australian National University
• Heidi Norman, University of Technology Sydney
• Tim Oakes, University of Colorado
• Andrew O’Neil, Griffith University
• Eva Pils, Kings College London
• Pitman Potter, University of British Columbia
• John Pretty, University of New South Wales
• Stein Ringen, University of Oxford
• Andres Rodriguez, University of Sydney
• Claire Roberts, University of Melbourne
• Sally Sargeson, Australian National University
• David C. Schak, Griffith University
• Jonathan Schwartz, State University of New York, New Paltz
• Orville Schell, Center on US-China Relations, Asia Society
• Mark Selden, Cornell University
• 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
• Kristin Stapleton, University at Buffalo, SUNY
• Chloe Starr, Yale University
• Warren Sun, Monash University
• Susan Tan, Australian National University
• Frederick Teiwes, University of Sydney
• Biao Teng, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
• Paul Theirs, Washington State University
• Stig Thøgersen, Aarhus University
• Rey Tiquia, University of Melbourne
• Luigi Tomba, University of Sydney
• Sue Trevaskes, Griffith University
• Steve Tsang, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
• Jonathan Unger, Australian National University
• Carsten Vala, Loyola University Maryland
• Peter Van Ness, Australian National University
• Kristof Van den Troost, Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania
• Yiyan Wang, Victoria University of Wellington
• Jeffrey Wasserstrom, University of California, Irvine
• Gerda Wielander, University of Westminster
• Martin Whyte, Harvard University
• Martin Williams (PhD, University of Technology Sydney, 2005)
• Teresa Wright, California State University, Long Beach
• Guoguang Wu, University of Victoria
• Ming Xia, City University of New York
• Yeliang Xia, CATO Institute
• Haiqing Yu, University of New South Wales
• Zaijun Yuan (PhD, Monash University, 2011)
• Jinjiang Zhong, Australian Values Alliance
• Wensheng Zhu (Jinsheng), Author
• Peter Zarrow, University of Connecticut
• Jian Zhang, University of New South Wales
• David Zweig, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology