All schools and colleges are ordered to report those who are “not heterosexual,” listing also their “psychological conditions” and “political positions.”
by Kong Yuxuan
The bomb exploded on August 26, when a student posted on Weibo a confidential directive by the University of Shanghai. The post has been removed since, but other netizens had spread the document. Some of them work at the University of Shanghai, and confirmed that the document is genuine. When the censors intervened, the document had been shared 12,000 times, including through international social media such as Twitter on which the CCP has no control.
The document asks all college and schools of the University of Shanghai (which has some 55,000 students) to compile and centralize lists of all “non-heterosexual” (非异性恋者) students, including gays (男同性恋者), lesbians (女同性恋者), bisexuals (双性向者), and transgender (跨性别者). For each student, it appears that the record should also list “ideological positions” and “psychological conditions,” looking specifically for “mental disorders.”
Netizens have noted that this seems to implement the ideas expressed by Professor and CCP bureaucrat Tao Shuguo earlier this year in an article in the “Higher Education Forum” magazine, under the title “Analysis of the status quo of the LGBT group of college students and exploration of its countermeasures” (大学生LGBT群体现状分析及其对策探究), where he advocated compiling lists and data bases of LGBT students, and taking “countermeasures” to “correct” their attitudes.
On the other hand, students have reported this is not the first such survey at Shanghai University, only, the others were carried out more quietly.
Comments by netizens were mostly negative, and revealed that identifying LGBT students and collecting records about them is not limited to Shanghai University, and is happening in other colleges throughout the country as well.
In fact, the notice from University of Shanghai mentions “relevant requirements,” which may have a national scope.