Hong Kong democracy advocate Chan Kin-man (陳健民) has accepted a teaching position at National Chengchi University (NCCU) for one year starting in September, a university department head said on Monday.
Chan’s invitation to serve as a visiting professor represents an important opportunity not just for Hong Kong academics, but for all Hong Kongers. As Beijing continues to crack down on dissidence in Hong Kong, its residents are facing imposed censorship or are self-censoring. Beijing is attempting to bury Hong Kong’s unique culture and way of life, and has already taken away academic freedom.
Taiwan can offer a safe haven for the voices of Hong Kongers — a place where they can express themselves freely, and pass on their stories without fear of reprisal.
Chan said that during his time in Taiwan, he will work on a book he has been writing. One of Beijing’s first targets in Hong Kong was literary expression when it arrested book publishers in 2015. That is why it is imperative for Taiwan to protect Hong Kong authors and publishers.
Future generations of Hong Kongers — including those in the global diaspora — will be able to access uncensored Hong Kong literature if it is published and preserved in Taiwan. It is clear that the government is aware of the importance of this task given that it permitted Lam Wing-kei (林榮基), a former manager of Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay Books, to immigrate. Lam has said that Taiwan is particularly aware of the value of literary freedom, as it underwent censorship under the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government.
The importance of giving shelter to critical thinkers from Hong Kong was made even more urgent last week when Google, Facebook and other companies said they might pull out of the territory. The move would be necessary to protect their workers from prosecution under a proposed amendment to the Personal Data Privacy Ordinance, the companies said.
In an April 15 article published on the Web site of the Financial Times, a primary-school teacher in Hong Kong is cited as saying that she “rethinks every word she writes or image she shows the class,” and that she feels she has “a noose over [her] head.”
The article says that Hong Kong’s school principals “have already ordered libraries to weed out books deemed politically incorrect, and teaching materials will be vetted.” Some parts of the curricula, such as liberal studies courses, have been removed altogether, and even the American International School has been targeted for showing a map of China that did not include Taiwan.
Therefore, it is no surprise that Taiwanese universities last year reported a 44 percent increase in the number of applications from Hong Kong students. For many students in Hong Kong — especially those who require or prefer to study using Chinese as the medium of instruction — Taiwan might be the only option left that ensures academic freedom.
Having instructors from Hong Kong working at Taiwanese universities would be a way to help Hong Kong students make that transition, especially if universities could offer some courses using Cantonese as the medium of instruction, or allow research students to have academic supervisors who speak Cantonese.
The government should seek to hire outstanding academics from Hong Kong — especially those who have been critical of Beijing’s suppression of its people — to teach or conduct research and writing in Taiwan. Doing so would not only benefit Taiwan’s research community, but would also help to preserve academic and literary freedom for Cantonese speakers of future generations.
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