China's national campaign to "collect travel documents" from teachers

Chinese authorities have clamped down on mass travel passports for a growing number of teachers and public sector workers, under a policy known as "Personal Travel Abroad Management," which aims to empower local officials to control who can travel and what destinations are allowed.
According to the report of the British newspaper "Financial Times," the move comes at a time when the state's intervention in China's daily life is increasing, as part of the "anti-corruption effort.".
Interviews with more than 10 public sector employees, along with announcements from education offices in several cities, showed that restrictions on international travel had "expanded significantly" since last year, to include regular employees in schools, universities, local governments, and state-owned enterprises.
"I'm all being asked to hand in my passports," said one teacher in a major city in Sichuan province, explaining that leaving the country "now requires an application to the city's education office," noting that the move would raise awareness of the possibility of such applications being approved.
He said teachers in other cities, such as Yichang in Hubei province, also asked for the same instructions on how to submit travel documents.
In the summer of this year, Arab teachers in the provinces of Guangdong and Jiangsu Heinan expressed their dissatisfaction on social media, where one of them pointed out that every visit to an English-speaking country has become a threat.
The Westend Passports, issued in 2003, established a system to limit the travel of key individuals, allowing local authorities to set rules for the travel of government employees.
Since the middle of the last decade, residents of some troubled regions, such as Tibet, have lost the freedom to travel, while some regions have begun applying rules to "manage personal travel abroad" for teachers, according to the Financial Times.
According to a previous report by the British newspaper "The Guardian," "Blood Thunder" is witnessing "increasing tension" in competition on the Internet, as authorities strive to restrict access to information and suppress political debate online.
According to the report, the restrictive measures imposed by the Chinese authorities, known as the "Great Fire," include not only blocking popular foreign websites, but also monitoring and prosecuting Chinese people who try to circumvent these restrictions.
Punishing individuals for online comments is common in China, but stalking dissident influencers is a growing new phenomenon, the paper said.
According to Xinyan Barzan, my followers will be questioned this year, including Wang Chian, a Chinese journalist living in Japan.
According to the newspaper, even hard-line nationalists did not accept these comments, as Ho Shijin, an influential and pro-government commentator, posted comments on social media about China's political path "not in line with the official vision."