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===1989 Democracy Movement & Exile===
===1989 Democracy Movement & Exile===
During the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]], Fang and his wife, Li Shuxian, were granted [[right of asylum|asylum]] at the U.S. [[embassy]] in Beijing. They entered the embassy on June 5, 1989 (the day after the government began its repression of the protests). During his time there, Fang wrote an essay titled ''The Chinese Amnesia''<ref name="amnesia">[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/sep/27/the-chinese-amnesia/ ''The Chinese Amnesia''], New York Review of Books, 1990.</ref>, criticizing the [[Chinese Communist Party]]'s repression of human rights and the outside world's turning a blind eye to it.<ref name="Spence" />
During the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]], Fang yyyand his wife, Li Shuxian, were granted [[right of asylum|asylum]] at the U.S. [[embassy]] in Beijing. They entered the embassy on June 5, 1989 (the day after the government began its repression of the protests). During his time there, Fang wrote an essay titled ''The Chinese Amnesia''<ref name="amnesia">[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/sep/27/the-chinese-amnesia/ ''The Chinese Amnesia''], New York Review of Books, 1990.</ref>, criticizing the [[Chinese Communist Party]]'s repression of human rights and the outside world's turning a blind eye to it.<ref name="Spence" />


Fang and his wife remained in the US Embassy until June 25, 1990 when they were allowed by Chinese authorities to leave the embassy and board a U.S. Air Force C-135 transport plane to Britain.<ref>Lilley, James. China Hands. New York: Public Affairs, 2004. ISBN 1-58648-343-9.</ref> This resolution came about after confidential negotiations between [[Henry Kissinger]] (acting on behalf of US President [[George H.W. Bush]]) and China's paramount leader [[Deng Xiaoping]] <ref name="Spence">[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/kissinger-and-china/ Spence, Jonathan D. ''Kissinger and China'', The New York Review of Books, June 2011.]</ref> as well as a meaningless "confession" by Fang (boilerplate "verbiage" common in Communist ideology that in no way admitted wrong)<ref name="Confession" />, an attempted intervention by US National Security Adviser [[Brent Scowcroft]] and an offer from the Japanese government to resume loans to the PRC in return for "the Fang Lizhi problem [being] solved".<ref name="Confession">[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/my-confession/ ''My "Confession"''], Fang Lizhi, translated by Perry Link. The New York Review of Books, 2011.</ref>
Fang and his wife remained in the US Embassy until June 25, 1990 when they were allowed by Chinese authorities to leave the embassy and board a U.S. Air Force C-135 transport plane to Britain.<ref>Lilley, James. China Hands. New York: Public Affairs, 2004. ISBN 1-58648-343-9.</ref> This resolution came about after confidential negotiations between [[Henry Kissinger]] (acting on behalf of US President [[George H.W. Bush]]) and China's paramount leader [[Deng Xiaoping]] <ref name="Spence">[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/kissinger-and-china/ Spence, Jonathan D. ''Kissinger and China'', The New York Review of Books, June 2011.]</ref> as well as a meaningless "confession" by Fang (boilerplate "verbiage" common in Communist ideology that in no way admitted wrong)<ref name="Confession" />, an attempted intervention by US National Security Adviser [[Brent Scowcroft]] and an offer from the Japanese government to resume loans to the PRC in return for "the Fang Lizhi problem [being] solved".<ref name="Confession">[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/23/my-confession/ ''My "Confession"''], Fang Lizhi, translated by Perry Link. The New York Review of Books, 2011.</ref>

Revision as of 13:50, 7 October 2011

Fang Lizhi

Template:Chinese name Fang Lizhi (simplified Chinese: 方励之; traditional Chinese: 方勵之; pinyin: Fāng Lìzhī; born February 12, 1936) is a professor of astrophysics and former vice-president of the University of Science and Technology of China whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986-87 and, finally, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[1] Because of the first, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China in January 1987.[2]

Political Activism

Fang gained fame and notoriety after his essays were collected and distributed by the Communist Party of China to many of its regional offices, with the directive to its members to criticize the essays. As the story goes, many who read his essays found them to be thought-provoking, and Fang was inadvertently provided a platform for his views.

1989 Democracy Movement & Exile

During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Fang yyyand his wife, Li Shuxian, were granted asylum at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. They entered the embassy on June 5, 1989 (the day after the government began its repression of the protests). During his time there, Fang wrote an essay titled The Chinese Amnesia[3], criticizing the Chinese Communist Party's repression of human rights and the outside world's turning a blind eye to it.[4]

Fang and his wife remained in the US Embassy until June 25, 1990 when they were allowed by Chinese authorities to leave the embassy and board a U.S. Air Force C-135 transport plane to Britain.[5] This resolution came about after confidential negotiations between Henry Kissinger (acting on behalf of US President George H.W. Bush) and China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping [4] as well as a meaningless "confession" by Fang (boilerplate "verbiage" common in Communist ideology that in no way admitted wrong)[6], an attempted intervention by US National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and an offer from the Japanese government to resume loans to the PRC in return for "the Fang Lizhi problem [being] solved".[6]

In 1989, he was a recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award.

Later Life

After some time at Cambridge University and Princeton, Fang later moved to Tucson, where he works as Professor of Physics at the University of Arizona.

In campus speeches Fang has spoken on topics such as human rights and democracy as matters of social responsibility. He also served as a board member and co-chair of Human Rights in China.[4]

References

  1. ^ Yam, P. (1994) Profile: Fang Lizhi – Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Physics, Scientific American 270(5), 39-40.
  2. ^ Letters from the Other China - The New York Review of Books
  3. ^ The Chinese Amnesia, New York Review of Books, 1990.
  4. ^ a b c Spence, Jonathan D. Kissinger and China, The New York Review of Books, June 2011.
  5. ^ Lilley, James. China Hands. New York: Public Affairs, 2004. ISBN 1-58648-343-9.
  6. ^ a b My "Confession", Fang Lizhi, translated by Perry Link. The New York Review of Books, 2011.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fang Lizhi.

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