A growing number of recalls for cars, medical devices and food illustrate one way China is addressing product quality concerns. Now, in a case that connects product defect problems, a distrusted medical system and official corruption, a Sichuan province university is recalling its diplomas.

汽车、医疗器械和食品召回事件不断增多，这反映出中国解决产品质量担忧的一个方式。而现在，大学毕业证书也被召回了，这个发生在四川一所大学的事件同时暴露了产品缺陷、医疗系统失信和官员腐败三大问题。

Twice in recent months, according to a report by the 21st Century Business Herald, graduates in the Class of ’13 at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine have been asked to return their diplomas to fix defects: faulty signatures (in Chinese).

据《21世纪经济报道》称，最近几个月成都中医药大学2013级毕业生先后两次被要求送回毕业证书，以解决签名有误问题。

The problem is the people who signed the diplomas. First, the doctor who served as university president, Fan Xinjian, was detained on May 30 by Communist Party investigators for alleged discipline violations, according to the reports. Details of the party’s allegations against Mr. Fan aren’t known, but discipline violation is shorthand for alleged corruption.

这一问题与在这些毕业证书上签名的人有关。据报道，最初，这所大学的校长范昕建在5月30日因涉嫌违纪，被纪检部门调查。相关部门对范昕建的指控细节不得而知，但违纪是腐败的另一种说法。

Because Mr. Fan had signed the diplomas, the school replaced them with new certificates signed by its party secretary, a former hospital administrator named Zhang Zhongyuan. But on July 7, Mr. Zhang, too, was detained by party investigators under similar circumstances.

由于这批毕业证书都是由范昕建签名的，该校随后将这些证书换成由曾经担任过医院院长的校党委书记张忠元签名的新证书。但在7月7日，张忠元也被纪检部门调查。

Neither Mr. Fan nor Mr. Zhang could be reached.

记者无法联系到范昕建和张忠元置评。

The accusations are unclear. On July 24, the school said both officials were removed from their positions (in Chinese).

相关指控信息不详。7月24日，该校称，他们二人均被免职。

The school is one of the country’s most prestigious in traditional medicine, with an enrollment of 22,000 graduate and undergraduate students. In addition to Mr. Fan and Mr. Zhang, Xinhua has reported detention of a number of top officials on the school’s huge business side (in Chinese), including Zuo Xiaojun, the general manager of an asset management company linked to the school. Mr. Zuo is also a board member of a company part owned by the school, Shenzhen-listed Chengdu Huasun Group (in Chinese).

成都中医药大学是中国最有名的中医药大学之一，在校研究生、本专科学生有2.2万人。据新华社报道，除了范昕建和张忠元，该校还有多位中层干部被纪检部门调查，其中包括左晓军，他是与该校有关的一家资产管理公司的总经理。左晓军还是该校参股的成都华神集团股份有限公司(Chengdu Huasun Group, 简称：华神集团)的董事，该公司在深圳上市。

Huasun, a maker of traditional Chinese medicine and steel, said in a statement July 12 Mr. Zuo is under investigation for “personal reasons” and his absence won’t impact the business.

华神集团7月12日发布公告称，左晓军因“个人原因”正在接受四川省纪检机关调查，此事不会对华神集团产生重大影响。华神集团是一家主营中药和钢构的公司。

The discipline inspection commission in Chengdu and the Party Committee of the Sichuan Province refused to comment. Chengdu University of Traditional Medicine is now on summer break and appropriate officials couldn’t be reached to comment in depth.

成都纪委和四川省委拒绝置评。成都中医药大学目前正放暑假，记者无法联络相关负责人深度置评。

The link in the diploma case between poor product quality, confused medical credentials and official corruption has been too rich for China’s Internet users to ignore.

在这起毕业证书事件中，低劣的产品质量、令人困惑的医疗资质和官员腐败之间存在极大的联系，中国网民自然不会忽视。

One commentator on Sina Corp.’s popular Weibo microblog service suggested the party’s detention of allegedly corrupt officials around China suggests the signature problem extends much further than university campuses. “How do they deal with the documents signed by Bo Xilai? That could give this medical school some reference,” the microblogger user wrote.

新浪微博上的一位评论者说，共产党拘捕中国各地被指腐败官员的行动表明，签名问题远不止于大学。这位微博用户写道，不知当年薄熙来签发的文件现在又是如何处理的？医大好好参考一下吧。

Mr. Bo, a disgraced former government high-flier, certainly put his name on awards and other such documents as head of China’s Commerce Ministry and Communist Party boss in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing.

薄熙来是下台的前政府高官，担任中国商务部长以及西南都市重庆的市委书记期间，他肯定在众多奖状及类似文件上签了名。

Others were sympathetic with graduates. “When I imagine the kind of doctors who are educated here and are coming from such environment, I feel terrible,” wrote a user on Sina Corp.’s weibo service. “Society is a big corrupted pot. But now the schools are polluting those pure hearts.”

有的人对这些毕业生表示同情。一名微博用户说，有这样的医生，再想象一下教出的学生，从这样的环境里走出的医生。天哪，真可怕。社会是大染缸，而学校更是污染了那些纯洁善良的心。

Some graduates from the previous four years when Mr. Fan was school president are now worried about the credibility of their diplomas that carry his signature.

在此前四年范昕建担任校长期间毕业的学生现在担心自己文凭的信誉，因为文凭上有范昕建的签名。

“Fan’s name is on my diploma,” wrote one microblogger, who claimed to be a former student. “The year when I graduated Fan just assumed office. It is a stigma.”

一位声称自己曾经是这所学校学生的微博用户说，貌似我的毕业证上也是范昕健的名字……我毕业那年是他上任的第一年……耻辱感顿生……

The microblogger’s identity could not be verfied.

这位微博用户的身份无法证实。

Now, the Class of ’13 apparently has fresh ink on its diplomas. But it’s not immediately clear who signed them. A person answering a telephone in the administration office on Thursday would say only, “The name on the diploma is approved from the top leaders.”

现在，2013届毕业生的文凭上显然有了新的签名。但还不清楚是谁签的。周四该校行政办公室一位接听电话的人士只说，文凭上的签名是上级领导批准的。