Fang Lizhi, the scientist who inspired the Tiananmen movement
Beijing (AsiaNews) - Fang was "a treasure to China but he could not die in his own country [and] had to die in exile," his friend and fellow US-based exiled dissident Wang Dan wrote on Facebook. He hopes that the Chinese people will never forget the "thinker" Fang, who, he said, "inspired the '89 generation, and awoke in the people their yearning for human rights and democracy." One day, China will "be proud to once have had Fang Lizhi," who rose from humble beginnings to become one of China's pioneer researchers in laser theory.
Fang was a leading Chinese dissident who helped fuel the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He died in exile in the United States at the age of 76. He had taken refuge at the US embassy in Beijing on 12 June 1989 after the crackdown on China's pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square.
After reaching the United States, he worked as a physics professor at the University of Arizona, but both he and his wife Li Shuxian were among Communist China's 'most wanted'.
Fang was a top professor of astrophysics at the University of Science and Technology of China but was expelled from the university and the ruling Chinese Communist Party after his liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of 1986-87, which sowed the seeds for the bigger uprising in Tiananmen, in which he played no public part.
Following the bloody crackdown of the seven-week Tiananmen protests in which hundreds died, Fang and his wife sought refuge at the US Embassy in Beijing for one year before eventually going into exile in the United States.
Beijing accused the couple of counterrevolutionary crimes, tantamount to treason, for which they could have been handed death sentences upon conviction, but let them leave the country in June 1990, ostensibly for medical treatment, in what was seen as a concession to Washington, removing a major thorn in bilateral ties which had soured after the Tiananmen crackdown.
Beijing said the couple had shown "signs of repentance," but Fang said later that "not a word" of a written account he gave before he left China "admitted any mistake or confessed any crime."
In exile, he met Pope John Paul II and various US presidents as well as leading international scientists. He was nicknamed "China's Sakharov" for his contribution to the cause of democracy, Wang said that what he did will be never forgotten.
Recently, Wan Dang and five dissidents (Hu Ping, Wang Juntao, Wuer Kaixi, Wu Renhua and Xiang Xiaoji) exiled for their involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations appealed to the Chinese government in an open letter to restore their right to return to their country.
"Because of political reasons, we were denied renewal of our passports, had our passports revoked, or were denied entry into China. In short, we have been deprived of our right to return to our country," Wang and his fellow dissidents wrote.
"We believe that returning to one's motherland is an inalienable right of a citizen. As rulers, you should not deprive us of our most fundamental human right because of differences in political views between you and us."
For the six, the protection of human rights and advancement of democracy are the wishes of all Chinese people and that they "are willing to abide by the principles of openness and good faith to engage in dialogues with the relevant government departments to discuss concrete ways to solve this problem."
The dissidents' request came a few weeks after Premier Wen Jiabao proposed to review judgement of the Tiananmen protest, hitherto labelled "counterrevolutionary", including compensation for the families of the victims of the crackdown.
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02/02/2009
