Xu Zhangrun


Xu Zhangrun is a Chinese jurist. He was a professor of Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and a research fellow with the Unirule Institute of Economics.

Education

Xu received his bachelor's degree from the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, a master's from the China University of Political Science and Law, and a PhD from the University of Melbourne.

Research

Xu's research specializes in jurisprudence, Western legal philosophy, constitutional theory, and the relationship between Confucianism and law.

Writing

In July 2018, Xu published an essay, translated as "Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes", where he rebukes the recent policy shifts of Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping, including the abolition of term limits and the restoration of a cult of personality, which is notable for being a rare expression of public dissent. The essay has been translated into English by Geremie Barmé. That essay received some commentary from Western scholars. Xu had been suspended and put under investigation. The article proposed to restore the Chinese Chairman's tenure system, namely, from the life tenure system instituted under Xi's rule on 11 March 2018 to the fixed-term system that perdured between 1982 and 2018. The article prompted discussion among Chinese people about the changes. Some supported it, while some were worried about the safety of Professor Xu. The article was published at a time of tension in China, which included the America-China trade war as well as reports of inner-conflicts among senior Chinese Communist Party officials. The article emphasized that the public, including bureaucratic officials, were concerned about personal safety issues as well as the direction of national development. Xu claimed that these fears were due to the breaking of four basic principles by the ruling class, namely, public security, respect of private property, tolerance of the population's life freedoms, and the duration of the Director General's tenure system.

Detention

In April 2019, friends reported that the authorities had prohibited Xu from leaving the country. He was stopped from boarding a flight to Japan on a trip authorized and funded by Tsinghua University.
In February 2020, Xu published an essay condemning the Chinese Government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Xu condemns how the government banned the reporting of factual information during the outbreak and connects this problem to a larger freedom of speech issue in China. After the publication of this essay, Xu's friends were unable to get in touch with him for a time. His account on WeChat was suspended and his name was scrubbed from Weibo. It is believed he was under house arrest.
On 6 July 2020, Xu was detained by Chinese police at his home in Beijing, being accused of speaking critically about China's response to the Covid-19 pandemic. He was released from custody on 12 July 2020. Subsequently, Xu was fired from his job at Tsinghua University. Both the US State Department and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, who mentioned Xu in connection with the 709 crackdown, said that the EU:
In early July, Xu was detained by police in Beijing for nearly a week after being accused of soliciting prostitution. According to his attorney, the trumped up charges claim he solicited a prostitute in December 2019 in Chengdu's Qingyang district. The police have a woman who said she had intercourse with Xu. Xu contends that he had never seen her before.