Chinese law school tutor suspended from teaching over polygamy proposal
- Lecturer at Shanghai university punished for arguing for ‘special treatment’ in marriage
- Comments were made in private channel but leaked to public platforms
A young lecturer from a top Chinese law school has been suspended from teaching after arguing that polygamy should be allowed for some intellectuals.
Bao Yinan, an associate professor of international law at East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, wrote on his WeChat Moments – a social media platform restricted to friends – that teachers at Chinese colleges and universities should be given “special treatment” in marriage and as well as lifelong allowances.
But his comments on polygamy in the private channel were leaked to public platforms, prompting a backlash.
The South China Morning Post could not contact Bao for comment.
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Bao’s punishment comes as Chinese authorities tighten control of views that are not in line with official policies or positions.
According to details posted online, Bao was born in July 1987 and is a researcher in international and maritime law as well as international territorial disputes.
Bao’s comments were initially made about an article on a ruthlessly competitive tenure system for young lecturers at Chinese universities, where only a small percentage of young teachers gain tenured jobs.
It was part of his argument for better treatment for younger university workers – an issue brought to the fore when a 39-year-old mathematics teacher at Shanghai’s prestigious Fudan University killed a Communist Party official after learning that he was about to lose his teaching job.
Bao is not the only one to argue in favour of polygamy.
Fudan University economics professor Yew-Kwang Ng made a similar case a year ago. Ng proposed that Chinese women should be allowed to have multiple husbands to help resolve the gender imbalance in China, where there are about 118 boys born for every 100 girls.
In 2015, Xie Zuoshi, a professor at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, was pilloried online for urging lower-income Chinese men to band together to find a wife to share. At the time, rights groups said such suggestions ignored the wishes and rights of women.
