Senior official to take up post in academia

A senior Chinese official has been relieved of his position at the Communist Party of China Central Committee and will take a new position at Peking University.

Yu Keping, deputy director of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, said at a meeting on Wednesday that his resignation had been approved. There has yet to be an official announcement about his resignation from the bureau.

Yu will be appointed as director of Peking University's Politics Study Center, and he will also be dean of the University's School of Government.

Zhou Zhiren, Party secretary of the School of Government, said the Politics Study Center has not been founded yet. But Zhou said Peking University had long planned to invite Yu to become the center's director, according to Beijing News.

"I will support his decision. As an individual, to pursue a career that he is passionate about is a wonderful thing," said Zhang Lin, who works for a nongovernment organization in Beijing.

Zhang said she had read most of Yu's books. "He is an idol tome. I think he has deep thoughts on society. And many of his ideas are great, which will bring some positive changes to society," she said.

Yu is a noted scholar and has written many books, including the widely noted Democracy is a Good Thing.

In addition to his academic work, Yu has also acted as an adviser on political reforms to the Chinese government.

In an early interview with The Paper in 2012, Yu shared his thoughts on the biggest challenges facing China. He said social injustice, which results from unequal income distribution, is the major problem facing China.

Yu said that the Chinese government has been working hard to improve people's quality of life in recent years but such efforts have not been appreciated as much as they should, because unequal income distribution resulted in declining public trust and satisfaction with the authorities.

Yu is not the first high-level Chinese official take up a post in academia after retiring or resigning.

Yu Youjun, former deputy head of the State Council's Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project Commission, became a professor at the Philosophy Department of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangdong province.

yangwanli@chinadaily.com.cn