Between 2017 and 2022, I served as dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University in China. I was the first foreign dean of a political science faculty of a large public university in mainland China. During my time in Shandong, I learned much about the Chinese academic and political systems. Hoping to share some of my experiences, I decided to write a book about my stint there.

The book, The Dean of Shandong, was published in 2023 by Princeton University Press (the paperback edition comes out this month). By that time, I had moved to a new role in Hong Kong. I wasn’t anticipating any problems, since I’d expressed admiration for my former colleagues at Shandong University, who’d helped me navigate a difficult period, which included the pandemic. I had mentioned that I was writing it to two senior figures at the university, neither of whom had expressed any reservations about the project. I thought it would make them happy.

I was too naive. In February 2023, before the book had been published, The Wire China, an online news magazine founded by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Barboza, ran an article adapted from the chapter on collective leadership. The following month, my wife and I returned to Shandong to see