Dear Friend,
Fang Lizhi, China's physicist and dissident, who
inspired a generation of Chinese students, died in exile on April 6;
he was 76 years of age. Together with Liu Binyan (journalist and
writer), and Wang Ruowan (writer), Fang caught the ire of Deng
Xiaoping, China's paramount leader, when their writings and speeches
influenced protests in 1986 demanding political reforms. It was Hu
Yaobang, then Party General Secretary, who refused Deng's demand to
expel these three from the Communist party and who himself was later
forced to resign. Hu Yaobang's death in April, 1989 triggered the
students' protest slogan "Those who should die did not; and those
who should live have gone", leading to the largest pro-democracy
movement in the history of the PRC.
As it is often the case with Communist dictates, it
was Deng Xiaoping who ordered Party members across the country to
denounce and criticize Fang Lizhi's writings on freedom and
democracy but turned out to contribute to Fang's fame in China and
allowed his ideas to spread.
Below is an article by Dr. Perry Link on Fang
Lizhi. Dr. Link is Chancellorial Chair Professor of UCI and
Princeton Emeritus Professor. Dr. Link is also Visual Artists
Guild's honoree for the 2011 Spirit of Tiananmen Award.
Ann Lau ...