"Forced to work 10 hours daily with cleaning and driving duties"… 'Graduate School Slavery' Sparks Outcry in China

Controversy Over Peking University Assistant Professor Exploiting Students Like Slaves
"There Is a Culture of Treating Students as 'Cheap Labor'"

A scandal is growing after a professor who exploited researchers for nearly 10 hours a day at a Chinese university was exposed. Hong Kong media South China Morning Post (SCMP) highlighted the story of Mr. A, a researcher working at the graduate school of the prestigious Peking University in China, on the 2nd (local time). He recently gained attention by accusing Professor Zheng Feng, who allegedly abused him and his lab colleagues.

Mr. A released a lengthy statement of 23 pages on the 9th of last month. He and his colleagues conduct research on wireless communication and digital signal processing technology at Peking University, but their advisor, Professor Zheng Feng, reportedly provided almost no help in guiding their research.

Graduation ceremony at a Chinese university. The photo is not related to any specific expression in the article. [Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

Instead, Professor Zheng assigned all kinds of "menial tasks" to Mr. A and his fellow graduate students. Examples cited in Mr. A’s statement include buying breakfast for Professor Zheng, cleaning his apartment, receiving packages, driving Professor Zheng’s friends or family on holidays, and even doing homework or taking exams for Professor Zheng’s daughter. Some graduate students reportedly took exams on behalf of Professor Zheng’s daughter.

Due to Professor Zheng’s abuse and tyranny, some students suffered extreme stress and even sought psychiatric counseling. Moreover, Professor Zheng reportedly kept Mr. A and his colleagues in the lab for more than 10 hours a day. Because of this, Mr. A could barely leave work until after 10 p.m. every day.

Professor Zheng was able to carry out such excessive abuse of researchers thanks to his power within the lab. He excluded students who complained about him from research projects and threatened to delay their graduation. Regarding this, Mr. A wrote, "Zheng Feng treated us like slaves, wasting our time on tasks unrelated to research. He also constantly verbally insulted and abused us."

Peking University, China. [Image source=Peking University Instagram]

After the story spread, Chinese social networking services (SNS) such as Weibo erupted with anger. Posts related to the letter released by Mr. A recorded as many as 88 million views, and the topic ranked first or second on real-time search lists on portal sites.

As the controversy grew, Peking University reportedly suspended Professor Zheng’s teaching qualifications. They are also providing psychiatric counseling and other treatments to the graduate students who suffered abuse from Professor Zheng.

However, local netizens’ anger has not subsided. In particular, criticism of the research lab culture among graduate students is reportedly growing stronger. They say that a culture where professors treat graduate students as "cheap labor" has taken root in Chinese universities, and fundamental cultural changes are needed to abolish this.

One graduate student told SCMP, "There probably isn’t a graduate student in China who hasn’t experienced similar threats from their advisor," emphasizing, "Too much power is concentrated in the hands of advisors. Unless this hierarchy changes, there will be no change in research labs."