Australian tutor goes on Weibo rants against Chinese students

An Australian university tutor has resigned after he allegedly made derogatory comments towards Chinese students on social media, although his supporters claim it is an act of suppression by the Chinese government.

Wu Wei, a head finance tutor at the University of Sydney School of Business, became the subject of controversy after it was discovered he had labelled mainland Chinese students enrolled at the university "international pigs" with "low IQs" on Chinese social media platform, Weibo. 

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Screenshots of Wu's posts, under the pseudonym "Pekojima," have been widely shared on the platform, since he deleted his Weibo account. The posts were originally brought to light in a story by the university newspaper, Honi Soit.

The deleted posts were translated in a Google document compiled by the Sydney University Business Society, which also created a petition regarding Wu's comments on Apr. 13. An internal investigation was also conducted by the university, resulting in his resignation Monday.

The posts show Wu complaining about his Chinese students, boasting about his Australian citizenship and burning his Chinese passport. Mashable has independently verified the translations below.

Image: weibo

In Wu's introduction on his Weibo blog, he claimed to be a tutor at the University of Sydney.

"I am an Australian resident, Sydney University Business School finance PHD student and received a full scholarship. I am also the head tutor of one of the compulsory finance course. Fluent in Mandarin, English and Japanese. The pinks (patriots) please mind your language," he wrote.

Image: weibo

While another post in January 2015 detailed his resentment towards international students in his classes.

"A Chinese international pig representative told me that I am a shame of the Australian-Chinese international community," he wrote. "It is such a pity because I am your tutor of you international student pigs. The USYD finance course is very difficult, not sure how many international pigs will hire essay writers because of their low IQ."

Image: WEIBO

Another post makes reference to the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in China, the country's deadliest earthquake in 30 years. Many Australians donated money to help victims, but in the post Wu flaunted his refusal to donate any money despite the fact he still held Chinese citizenship.

In other posts, Wu showed off his Australian citizenship certificate and wrote of his adopted country's "great British tradition and history." He also posted a GIF of his burning Chinese passport above a toilet.

In an interesting twist, a counter petition created on Sunday by Lebao Wu on behalf of Chinese-Australian students, expressed support for Wu. The petition reached 1,000 signatures by Monday, with people claiming Wu was a victim of suppression by supporters of the Chinese Communist Party.

Petitioning to the Dean of the University of Sydney's School of Business, professor Greg Whitwell, it points out that Wu's comments were taken out of context, and that the outrage is an act of curbing dissent among overseas Chinese.

"We are concerned that Mr. Wu is becoming a victim of the Chinese government's increasingly intrusive attempts to curb voices of dissent among overseas Chinese. Mr Wu has a long track record of critical comments against the Chinese government, its political system and social affairs on social networks," the petition reads.

One supporter, Lu YuXun from Japan, claimed the terms used by Wu are actually used as a terms to refer to people working for the China Communist Party and would not be considered offensive. While another person, Alex Sun, wrote on the petition that the university needed to differentiate between hate speech and a political accusation. 

In 2014, Fairfax Media investigated the use of Chinese spies within Australian universities, including Sydney University. Its investigation confirmed that Chinese intelligence officials were building networks within Australia's Chinese community to monitor and protect Beijing's core interests. 

Wu's resignation on Monday was accompanied by an apology via the university, which was sent to Mashable Australia by email. 

"I would like to sincerely apologise for the inappropriate and disrespectful comments I made on the Internet," the statement read. "I will refrain from such remarks in the future. I have also resigned from my employment at the University of Sydney. For those who felt hurt or offended by my online comments, I ask your forgiveness."

Whitwell issued an apology regarding the comments, but told Mashable the university would not comment further on the issues raised in the counter petition. 

"Racist, sexist or offensive language is not tolerated at the University of Sydney," Whitwell said in the statement. "The expectations for our staff and affiliates in respect of their professional and personal conduct are clearly set out in the University’s Code of Conduct."

Wu Wei and Lebao Wu have been contacted for comment by Mashable Australia.