A Chinese university has removed a news page from its website after coming under fire for announcing the hiring of a prominent Japanese archaeologist.
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Last month, Sichuan University’s school of history and culture in the city of Chengdu announced on its website that one of the world’s leading archaeologists – Kazuo Miyamoto – had started working at the university as a chair professor.
Miyamoto, who has spent his career studying East Asia and the Eurasian steppe, would continue contributing to cultural exchanges between China and the West at the university while helping to develop interdisciplinary talent, the announcement said.
But the recruitment of the professor, who is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as vice-president of the Japanese Archaeological Association, has sparked a wave of questions and controversy on Chinese social media.
Online, some commentators have asked why Chinese scholars were bypassed for the post in favour of Miyamoto. “Does Sichuan not have its own talent?” asked one person on the university’s WeChat platform.
Neither Miyamoto nor Sichuan University have responded to requests from the Post for comments since the announcement of his appointment was removed from the university’s webpage.
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Miyamoto, 67, began teaching at Kyushu University in Japan in 1994. He has written several academic monographs and published more than 100 papers spanning from early Neolithic to early Iron Age cultures across East Asia, and has led archaeological excavations and research projects in various locations worldwide.