Peking University says liberal professor Xia Yeliang fired for ‘poor teaching’

China’s prestigious Peking University has defended its controversial weekend sacking of an outspoken pro-democracy professor by saying Xia Yeliang had earned poor marks for teaching.

The dismissal of Xia on Friday generated international attention and criticism in domestic social media, and came as China’s new leadership has taken measures to silence high-profile critics.

Xia, an economist, said he believed he was dismissed because of his political views, particularly his support for Charter 08, a document signed by hundreds of intellectuals, dissidents and others urging pluralist democracy in China.

But Peking University said in a statement on its microblog account on Saturday that Xia was the school’s worst-ranked teacher and the source of 340 student complaints since 2006.

“Xia Yeliang’s teaching evaluation scores were for many years in a row the lowest of the entire university,” the statement said.

It added that a university committee had voted in October last year to let him go but gave him one year to improve.

In the follow-up meeting this month it said 30 people voted to end Xia’s contract, three people opposed, one abstained, and three people did not attend.