American writer Peter Hessler (Chinese name Pinyin He Wei), who writes on China, confirmed on May 30 that he had not been re-employed by Sichuan University and must leave China after the end of the semester. Peter Hessler is widely read in China, and now is leaving at a time when relations between the United States and China are troubled and the two countries are pushing each other’s media professionals.
Peter Hessler is the author of “Oracle Bones: A Journey Between China’s Past and Present”, “Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory” and “River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze”, which are called “Trilogy of China”. In the 1990s, Hessler joined the Peace Corps, an American volunteer organization, worked as an English teacher in a rural area in Sichuan, and later became a reporter for the magazine “The New Yorker” in Beijing. In 2010, he moved his family to Egypt. In August 2019, Peter Hessler returned to China again to teach “non-fiction writing” at Sichuan University’s Pittsburgh College. At that time, he told the media that he planned to stay in Sichuan for 5 years. His opening of a class at Sichuan University caused a sensation in the Chinese readership.
Recently, a Chinese netizen quoted Peter Hessler on the social platform Douban, saying that he would end his teaching at Sichuan University. On the afternoon of May 30th, Peter Hessler commissioned his friend He Yujia to issue an English statement, stating that the above rumors quoted his personal correspondence, but the information involved was accurate: “I originally hoped to continue teaching at Sichuan University Pittsburgh College. But I failed to renew my contract for the next school year.”
He said that after the end of this semester, he will return to the United States with his family because their visa will expire this summer. Peter Hessler spoke positively of his life in Chengdu in the past two years and expressed his gratitude to the school. “I hope we can return to China in the near future.” Many Chinese wemedia accounts reprinted this statement, while neither Peter Hessler’s statement nor Sichuan University gave any reasons for not renewing employment.
During this time, apart from teaching, Peter Hessler continued to publish works in The New Yorker. In August 2020, he wrote the article “How China Controls the Pandemic” in the publication, which recorded his life in Sichuan during the pandemic and his observations of the changes in Chinese society after the pandemic.
In addition, Peter Hessler is accused of having a close friendship with the family of Jim Mullinax, former US consul general in Chengdu. Jim Mullinax’s Taiwanese wife, Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax, once posted on Weibo, showing that the two had a close meeting together. And Tzu-i Chuang Mullinax is a Taiwanese actress who has previously been controversial in China because of her radical remarks. She was questioned by Chinese netizens that she did not officially marry Jim Mullinax, but was just a “sleeping girl”.
In recent years, the CCP has increasingly restricted the influence of foreign countries on its education system. In 2020, China issued a draft regulation stating that foreign teachers will be fired for “words and deeds” deemed to endanger national sovereignty. In March 2021, the Ministry of Education of China issued the latest teaching evaluation guidelines, requiring bilingual private schools and international schools with Chinese students in the school to comply with the regulations of China’s national syllabus in curriculum planning.
In addition, Sino-US relations may also become an incentive for Peter Hessler to leave. In July 2020, Beijing closed the US Consulate General in Chengdu in response to Washington’s order to close the Chinese Consulate General in Houston. At that time, Tzu-i Chuang described herself as “the Jews left their homes to avoid the Nazis before World War II”, which caused widespread criticism in China. Moreover, her previous posts on Facebook were found to touch on a number of sensitive Chinese topics, including Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang issues. Many Chinese netizens launched attacks on Tzu-i Chuang, the wife of the US consul general in Chengdu at the time, as well as some of her friends in China. The anti-American atmosphere in Chengdu was once soaring.
As early as February 2020, the US designated five Chinese media organizations in the US as “foreign missions”, including China’s official Xinhua News Agency. China then imposed restrictions on five China-based U.S. media bureaus, including The New York Times, in March of that year. The two countries have imposed restrictions on visas, administrative vetting and other measures on each other’s correspondents.
Source: dwnews