For one day out of every twenty, professors at a research institute under Peking University have to leave their labs and do a shift as a guard on the main gate.

An article in the Beijing News railed against the mis-employment of the professors, and says it is a glaring example of unreasonable use of authority by senior officials at the institute.

According to the institute head, professors are not 'special' and therefore should not be exempt from taking a turn in guarding their workplace.

The paper says it is true that no vocation should be judged inferior or superior to others, be it that of a professor or a gatekeeper. However, the main contribution to society of a professor is to teach or to conduct scientific research, not to perform outside of their own specialized domain.

Therefore, any irrelevant work on a non-voluntary basis would mean depriving the professors of their dignity and freedom as a professional.