Chinese academics face backlash for ‘wasting’ research funding on projects looking at how Marxism can help fight Covid
- Ideological studies on topics such as the ‘great anti-pandemic spirit’ trigger angry response from public facing a surge in infections and shortage of drugs
- Critics say overpraising the party’s achievements is likely to stir resentment and does not contribute anything meaningful to the public policy debate
One of the most-discussed projects, funded by the National Social Science Fund of China, focused on studying “the great spirit of fighting Covid-19”.
The project leader, Wang Guanzhong from the Marxism College at Capital Normal University, told a conference last month that this was in tune with the spirit of the Communist Party and a continuation of China’s traditional culture in the new era.
Other professors, mostly from colleges dedicated to studying Marxism, told the conference that Wang’s project should also look at how the party led the fight against the pandemic, how different regions performed and compare the “great Chinese spirit” with that of foreign countries.
But when the college posted an article about the conference on the social media platform WeChat, it triggered a strong public outcry that prompted it to delete the article.