Plagiarism and China’s Social Credit System

In China, former professor Xu Bacheng was fired from his job at the China Academy of Art (CAA) following allegations of plagiarism in his work.

According to an article by Yang Caini at Sixth Tone, the accusations were originally uploaded to the “life sharing platform” Xiaohongshu and accused Xu of plagiarizing works by both UK artist Seana Gavin and US-based artist Jim Kazanjian.

Though the original posts have been removed, Gavin has responded on her Instagram page with a comparison of the two works side by side.

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The case is a significant black mark on the reputation of the CAA. It’s one of the nation’s most prestigious art schools and saw some 40,000 seniors apply for just 1,220 seats.

However, the school did respond quickly, forming a special investigation team and terminating Xu’s employment. In a statement, the school said, “We will further strengthen academic moral education and resolutely resist academic misconduct.”

Xu has not released a statement on the matter.

However, it’s possible that Xu may have more to worry about than just the loss of employment. China has implemented a deeply controversial social credit system that punishes a wide variety of “undesireable” actions.

As per a 2020 announcement, academic fraud, including plagiarism, can negatively impact one’s standing with the system, leading to a wide variety of punishments including being denied both air and high-speed rail travel as well difficulty obtaining loans. 

Whether this will happen to Xu is impossible to say, but it is a unique approach to addressing academic integrity, even if it seems heavy handed to many outside the country.

China’s Social Credit System

To be clear, China’s Social Credit System is both extremely complicated and very misunderstood. The Wikipedia page for the system, for example, lists eight different misconceptions about the system that have been published in foreign news articles.

To that end, I am not an expert on the system and the system is constantly evolving. As such, going into great detail about the system doesn’t make much sense, but there are a few elements that need to be understood.

First, though the system is based on a “credit score”, it serves more as a pass/fail check with a blacklist for those that run afoul of it. Furthermore, the system is primarily targeted at financial issues and by far the most common target for enforcement action is businesses, not individuals.

That said, individuals are targeted by the system, making up about 10% of enforcement actions, and non-financial misdeeds, such as jaywalking and not correctly sorting personal waste can negatively impact your score. 

Those that run afoul of the system can face a wide variety of punishments, including restricted travel, difficulty obtaining loans and even public humiliation both online and offline. 

The system was first announced in 2014 as a way to incentivize “good” behavior by both individuals and companies. However, the system has been regularly expanded to target a wide variety of “undesirable” behaviors. 

One such expansion took place in September 2020, when the government announced that academic dishonesty would negatively affect some people’s social credit history.

This brings us back to Xu, who might be facing more than just the loss of his job, but reprisal from the Social Credit System.

Why China Changed Approaches

For some time, China has had a reputation for being lenient when it comes to plagiarism and academic dishonesty. This was backed by a 2018 study that found just over ⅔ of high-profile academic misconduct cases were punished at all, and that the punishments were often lackluster.

According to the authors of that study, the lack of effective punishment had led to a rise in academic misconduct in the country.

It was in this specter that the government released the September 2020 announcement that said academic misconduct would be factored into the Social Credit System. 

However, that announcement was also very limited. The guidelines only applied to those seeking master’s degrees, and it was unclear if and how the guidelines applied to other students, either undergraduate or doctorate. 

This means the guidelines are also unclear on how they apply to Xu. As a professor, it’s unclear what, if any, impact this will have on his Social Credit Score. Furthermore, if it does have an impact, it’s equally unclear if that change will result in any enforcement action.

But that may not be important. The fact remains that, at least in theory, it could harm him. The goal of the system isn’t to punish people, but to encourage “good” behavior. To that end, uncertainty is likely a feature rather than a bug.

Chinese citizens, understandably, don’t want to run afoul of this system. The impacts of doing so are embarrassing, career-limiting, and can even harm friends and family members connected with the person. 

As such, any behavior that MIGHT harm one’s score is to be avoided, regardless of whether it actually will. As such, I can imagine that this is a very real concern for Xu right now, even if it is unlikely to have any significant impact.

Bottom Line

To be clear, I’m not making any judgments for or against the Social Credit System. I am not an expert in it and all I’ve learned about it, beyond passing knowledge, come from the past few days of reading about it.

That said, it’s clear that China is trying to get more serious about academic integrity and is bringing one of his its biggest tools to bear on the problem. That should give any student pause of before handing in a plagiarized paper, in particular if they are working for a master’s degree.

While I certainly don’t approve of plagiarism and support China getting tougher on it, I also don’t think the potential punishments for plagiarism should include travel restrictions and difficulties getting loans. 

The punishments for plagiarism do need to be significant enough to deter it, but they also need to be fitting. Even if it can’t realistically happen under the system, the theoretical possibility is worrying enough.

While China definitely does have work to do in this space, it’s unclear to me if this is really the best or most fair approach.