Guangzhou professor fired for alleged breach of the one-child policy
Cai Zhiqi, associate professor of chemistry at the South China University of Technology, was given notice three weeks ago for having two children, his lawyer, Lu Miaoqing said.
A university professor in Guangzhou has been fired following accusations he broke the one-child policy, the latest academic to lose his job over the issue.
The university said Cai violated the one-child policy and should be sacked in accordance with Guangdong's family planning regulations.
Cai's first child was born in the United States in 2007 when he was working overseas and the other in Tianjin in 2010. Cai's first child is an American citizen and his second is registered to live on the mainland under the hukou system.
Lu said a notice from the National Population and Family Planning Commission in 2002 allowed mainlanders studying overseas to have a second child as long as they stayed abroad for over a year. Cai should be covered by the exception because the couple stayed in the US for two years, she said.
The professor had been discussing the matter with the university for about a year and was put under enormous pressure by the authorities to resign, Lu said. This was probably due to a review of the local birth control policy at the end of the year.