Chinese professor suspended, stripped off his teaching duties for criticising Xi Jinping

A Chinese university professor, who came into the fore for openly criticising President Xi Jinping, has been suspended and his teaching duties have been stripped off by authorities.

Xu Zhangrun, a law professor at the Tsinghua University in Beijing, was suspended earlier this month after he penned several articles lashing out at Xi's hardline policies. The professor has been placed under investigation by the varsity, said Xu's colleague Guo Yuhua, a sociology professor at the same institution.

In an opinion article last year, Xu alleged that the Chinese President was fostering a personality cult and demanded the restoration of presidential term limits, which was scrapped by the National People's Congress, South China Morning Post reported.

The 56-year-old professor also called for a review of the official account of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, which was brutally crushed by security forces. The article was widely circulated on social media.

According to Guo, Xu was told that he will not be allowed to carry out his teaching and research activities while the university conducted an official inquiry.

Xu was also barred from taking new students during the suspension period, Guo said.