Recently, Wu Jian, the vice president of South China Normal University, was exposed for plagiarizing a translated version of an English thesis from seven years ago, causing widespread attention. On April 10th, the Open Era Magazine, which published the thesis, issued a statement acknowledging the plagiarism and retracting the article. Subsequently, on April 11th, South China Normal University released a notification in the early morning to address the issue and take action against the individuals involved.
According to reports by The Paper, a netizen recently disclosed that a paper titled “Reconstruction of Customary International Law: A Perspective Based on the Balance of Interests between North and South Countries,” published in the CSSCI-indexed journal “Open Era” in 2024, was found to have extensively translated and plagiarized the 2018 English thesis “Customary International Law: A Third World Perspective” by renowned international law scholar B.S. Chimni. The authors of the paper were Zhong Yanhui from the Southeast Asia Research Center at South China Normal University and Wu Jian from the Southeast Asian Chinese Teacher Education College and the Southeast Asia Research Center at South China Normal University.
Public records show that Wu Jian holds multiple prestigious positions at South China Normal University, including Vice President, Director of the Southeast Asia Research Center, Professor, Researcher, and Ph.D. supervisor. Zhong Yanhui is a researcher and Ph.D. holder at the Southeast Asia Research Center at South China Normal University. The two have collaborated on numerous academic papers.
In response to the allegations, the Open Era Magazine issued a statement on the evening of April 10th, indicating that six experts in the relevant field conducted a thorough examination of the paper and identified severe plagiarism in terms of fundamental assumptions, main viewpoints, specific expressions, article structure, and cited references. Consequently, the decision was made to retract the paper.
In the early hours of April 11th, South China Normal University released a notification following an investigation, confirming the existence of plagiarism and academic misconduct involving unauthorized use of others’ work. Stringent measures will be taken against the individuals involved.
South China Normal University is a well-known institution in China, classified as a “Double First-Class” university, a key university under the “Project 211,” jointly constructed by Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Education, and a key university in Guangdong Province.
The news of the vice president of South China Normal University engaging in plagiarism has sparked discussions online. Netizens have expressed their opinions, with some stating, “There are too many people like this,” “Most of China’s papers are plagiarized, especially thesis papers used for graduation and promotion. The quality is questionable,” “The titles in county-level hospitals are basically fake,” “If even the vice president does this, what about others?” “This is the result of schools solely pursuing quantity of articles,” “How severe will the consequences be for this serious misconduct?” “Isn’t there supposed to be plagiarism checks? How did this pass?”