Confucius Institutes (CIs) and Chinese think tank programs in Poland have drawn criticism for allegedly spreading propaganda and limiting honest discussion of controversial subjects. Confucius Institutes are language and culture centers run by the People’s Republic of China’s Ministry of Education, which are hosted in more than 500 universities globally. Critics have raised concerns about incidents of infringement upon intellectual freedom at Confucius Institutes, whose terms of agreement and financial details are often hidden. A former head of propaganda for the Chinese Communist Party has called them “an important part of China’s overseas propaganda set-up.” Polish universities currently host five CIs, which have to accept some personnel and financing provided through Hanban, the CI governing body in China. Host universities also have to accept “by-laws” of CIs, including provisions regarding obedience to Chinese regulations that would not provide for the same level of free speech protections that most Western constitutions guarantee. Polish reports suggest that the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize award to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, and treatment of the Uyghur minority in China would not receive coverage in CI programming. A proposal for a sixth Polish CI, at the University of Warsaw, was halted in 2015 following student protests over similar concerns about censorship relating to Tibet, Taiwan, human rights violations, and other subjects.