The Paradox of Academic Freedom in the Chinese Context

China aims to become an innovation-led nation by 2020, boosted by research excellence at its top universities, yet academic freedom has always been viewed as problematic in the country. 1 Arguably, academic freedom should sit at the core of research excellence and innovation and be at the discretion of academia. China, however, features quite a different landscape. Recent academic integrity crises on university campuses and governmental intervention have once again brought the issue of academic freedom to the fore. To a large extent, the government oversees the academic integrity and outcomes of scholars and universities, unlike in the West, where this role is commonly fulfilled by the academic community. So what might be typically termed as "governmental interference" into