Sheffield Hallam Apologizes to American Scholar Over Publication Ban Curtailment of Laura Murphy’s research into alleged forced labor practices in China raises further questions over foreign government interference... Read the latest from @timeshighered.bsky.social ➡️ https://bit.ly/43fUPCK

I never looked at Ground News before because I think the emphasis on left vs right is fundamentally misguided, but this is amazing: grouping @hrw.org and @hongkongfp.com together with Xinhua and China Daily as “the left,” then generating summaries muddling their perspectives even further. Sublime.

The story about the pressures put on Uk academics working on China (often through anonymous threats) is one that needs to be discussed further. There are lots of ways that UK unis can protect academic freedom without scapegoating international students. www.theguardian.com/education/20...

There is only one real “Why Taiwan Matters” that matters: a.co/d/jm6nv0w

Beijing's blatant intimidations pushed Sheffield Hallam to violate academic freedom of Prof. @lauratmurphy.bsky.social, whose work has been foundational for #UyghurForcedLabor research. The university and relevant authorities should ensure her rights are protected. theguardian.com/education/20...

Sheffield Hallam deserves all the reputational costs coming its way. Universities should adopt the AFIWG model code on academic freedom & internationalisation www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Amid many a silly “free speech” panic, here is a genuinely chilling case … Sheffield Hallam professor accuses the institution of negotiating “directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market” www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China

I wrote a story @theguardian.com about Zhang Yadi, a London-bound Chinese student and Tibetan rights advocate who was arrested over the summer on suspicion of “inciting separatism.” If found guilty, she faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years. Read the story, with comments from @hrw.org, below:

"In total, the documents show Sheffield [Hallam University] had earned £3.8m in 2021/22 from China and Hong Kong." That's how little was enough for them to sell out.

Confirmation of key thesis in @cooleyoneurasia.bsky.social and @alexdukalskis.bsky.social's book "Dictating the Agenda:" channels for global cultural and market liberal influence now being weaponized by authoritarian states against liberal society institutions www.theguardian.com/education/20...

This is a remarkable case of Chinese authorities threatening a UK university into halting research on human rights violations, and the university acquiescing.

Now reversed, but only after eight months of disruption, cancellation of some work, and threats of legal action. Appalling. My former colleague @arthurkaufman.bsky.social interviewed @lauratmurphy.bsky.social about her work in 2022:

A British university complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China, leading to a major project being dropped, the Guardian can reveal.

Pretty extraordinary story here www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc....

I hope it is now obvious why pillars of democracy like universities, the law, public broadcasting should be funded so that they are beyond the reach of financial coercion by hostile agents.

'In February, Sheffield Hallam University, home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a leading research institution focused on human rights, ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China.' 1/3

Funding and networking opportunities for researchers of Eurasia, (very) broadly defined.

The UKRI Network Plus: Shifting Global Polarities is calling for applications for Network Fellowships, Network funded research projects, and participants for our annual workshop to be held in Glasgow. More information can be found at the network website. www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/pro...

don't know which is funnier, influential foreign propagandist defecting to "Western AI" because of censorship or using AI to "research China"...

Kind of a funny twist that two leaders so often at the center of "who will succeed him?" analysis are Xi Jinping and the Dalai Lama.

Glad to be quoted in this report about Chinese citizens fighting for Ukraine (yes, there are many Chinese sympathetic towards Ukraine, 22% by our estimate). Special thanks go to @davidstroup.bsky.social for the referral. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Great article by Amy Hawkins with analysis from @taomanchester.bsky.social about Chinese volunteers fighting on the frontlines in Ukraine’s International Brigade in @theguardian.com : www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

"Human Centipede of content" is a legit banger

This stuff is plainly evil and it’s frankly comical that so many people stand to defend it from even a technical perspective under present conditions.

At the end of the Umbrella Movement in 2014, HKers created this banner: We’ll be back Maybe it was just dreamers talking, but… we kept that promise.

Przeworski says it cleanly, clearly, and convincingly. What then must we do? www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-...

So much for the promise to "Let Hong Kong be Hong Kong" and have "a high degree of autonomy" for 50 years.

Sun: The 28th of September will mark 11 years since the start of the Umbrella Revolution in Hong Kong which demanded universal suffrage. Key areas in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok were occupied for 77 days. 5/

Don’t usually have a problem with “anti-government” but it could be misleading here. We don’t have to wonder what drove the protests — they had 5 clear demands. You could say HK’s housing is symptomatic of the system they opposed but this is just a wire piece. “Pro-democracy” might’ve been clearer.

But also, lol, what is the Bertrand guy even talking about

even though I have an entire research programme on the kind of binary narrative exemplified by the post (China this "the west" that, I even have a forthcoming book on it), at this point I find it extremely boring. and social media is horrible. bc this kind of stuff guarantees virality.

Friends in Manchester. Come and see the work that Jolynna Sinanan and I have been doing with Konger FC 曼城 as part of UoM’s Festival of Social Sciences. Saturday, November 1, 2025 from 17:30-19:00 在曼切斯特的朋友：我們請你來參加我們關於KongerFC足球隊的攝影展首映，11月1日（週六），17:30-19:00

"Although many #Hongkongers have found greater freedom in the #UK, the struggle to preserve their mother tongue continues. 'Either staying in #HongKong or...in the UK, they face the marginalisation of their culture,' Wong says. 'That really hits me personally'." www.theguardian.com/film/2025/se...

Neither fully accepted nor entirely apart, the descendants of foreigners in China embody the tensions of identity in a globalised yet nationalistic age. Chengzhi Zhang traces their struggles for belonging and what this reveals about the boundaries of Chineseness.

How do the socio-political dynamics of #Islamophobia 🕌 on #China's social media help establish boundaries of Chinese #national identity? @davidstroup.bsky.social will address this issue at the upcoming Inner #Asia #Colloquium on 29 September at 15:00 CET: www.remote-xuar.com/events/loath...

Excellent work from my PhD student in @madeinchinajournal.com madeinchinajournal.com/2025/09/17/q...

MAN>LHR>YVR for #APSA2025. Give me a shout if you’re in Vancouver!

I wanna point out that even though china isn’t democratic Xi has basically tossed the succession system the party previously used and is just gonna be there indefinitely

Glad to get my hands on a copy of this excellent volume from David O’Brien and Melissa Shani Brown. Excellent comprehensive introduction to identity and politics in Xinjiang .

Really pleased to get my hands on this amazing retro shirt which arrived yesterday from Shandong Luneng Taishan FC (who I used to go see play when I lived in Jinan).

Today Indian police personnel detain Tibetan Youth Congress activists as they took part in a protest against the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to India, outside the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, India (Photo's via @mizzimadailynews.substack.com)

Vital research from @drdavidtobin.bsky.social and @nyrolaelima.bsky.social on transnational repression of Uyghurs and what measures can be taken to guard against it. It’s a sobering reminder that human rights abuses don’t end at national boundaries.

A deranged convicted felon who wants to distract from his involvement with Jeffrey Epstein is lying about Washington, DC, which tallied a 30-year low in violent crime last year. It’s important to keep speaking the truth and not permit this pathological liar to control the narrative.

21 years later and this reads almost like prophecy.

2004. "The dynamics of penetration and resistance between the centre and what still remains an indigenous periphery can be expected to generate at the same time both increased sinicization and increased ethno-national unrest." www.jstor.org/stable/20192...

Teaching on nationalism, regime type, authoritarian institutions, social movements or area studies this year? Check out the CPCS Reading List, updated for Aug. 2025, containing articles from @cpcs.bsky.social from 2015-2025 categorized by region and by thematic area. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

August has always felt like late Sunday afternoon.

@nateschenkkan.bsky.social @davidstroup.bsky.social @htheaker.bsky.social @zhubochubo.bsky.social @dos3ab.bsky.social @nyrolaelima.bsky.social @saipirafurstenberg.bsky.social @timothyagrose.bsky.social @rachelaharris.bsky.social @carmenlau.bsky.social @juliemillsap.bsky.social