A Brief Introduction to Dr. Yang Jianli's Activities in Promoting China's Democratization 

Dr. Yang Jianli, current Chairman of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, a non-profit organization promoting China's democratization, was born in Shangdong Province of China in 1963. Mr. Yang went to college in 1978 when he was 15 years old. He later earned his first Ph.D. in Mathematics from UC Berkeley and the second in Political Science from Harvard University. Besides his professional experience, Dr. Yang has been a proactive soldier, as well as leader for China's democratization. He involved himself in many social movements promoting a peaceful transformation of China into a constitutional democracy. His spiritual as well as actual journey to liberalizing and democratizing China originated early in his years in China and continued with a firm commitment later in the United States. Below is only a brief account of the things he did since after his college years.

1963:

Born in Shandong Province of China.

1982:

After finishing his undergraduate education, Mr. Yang Jianli went to the graduate school at Beijing Normal University (BNU), one of the top colleges in China, when he was 18 year old. Mr. Hu Yaobang, the then liberal General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), encouraged young intellectuals to join and reform the CCP while Professor Fang Lizhi, a well-known dissident, was promoting the same idea as well. Although already seriously disbelieving the CCP, Mr. Yang, as many other young fellows of his age, still placed some hope on the CCP and were convinced somewhat that the only opportunity to reform the CCP was to join it. So, Yang Jianli joined the CCP in 1983 and was appointed the chairman of the official student union at BNU. He was soon after chosen as a member of the third tier succession team to the leadership of China's National Education Commission (NEC).

1985:

Jianli earned his MS Degree in Mathematics and was offered an Assistant Professor position at BNU. In the meantime, he was appointed by BNU authority to take responsibilities in forming an administration to manage the school's body of graduate students. In the process, Jianli got to know more CCP internal policies and measures for tight controls over the intellectuals, which he would otherwise have no chance of knowing. All the Professors or students who participated in "China's Free Election Movement" in the 1980's were closely watched, openly or secretly. This included even those who had graduated and left BNU. These people would be questioned, harassed, and even threatened whenever CCP had a political move, natioan-wide or local. Knowing all these, Jianli's last hope on the CCP started to disappear.

1986:

Jianli was internally pre-appointed to be the Associate Director of the soon-to-be-formed Graduate Administration at BNU when he was admitted by UC Berkeley to its Graduate School as a Ph.D. student. China's NEC and the BNU authorities wanted Jianli to stay, but Jianli was determined to go because he realized that to study abroad would be the only chance to open up his eyes and minds. At BNU's farewell party for Jianli, a CCP official from the NEC talked to him. He hoped Jianli would involve in the job of managing the overseas Chinese students as soon as he landed on the US, for which Jianli must immediately get in touch with and transfer his CCP party membership to the Chinese Embassy in the US. In June, Jianli, with the last hope on the CCP gone, went to Berkeley. He did not contact the Chinese Embassy. Soon after coming to the US, Jianli got a great deal of information and thoughts on liberty and democracy that he could never know in China. Also, in his activities in the Bay Area, he learned from the news and some veteran activists about the political and social systems in the West. He gradually shaped and firmed up his own thought: China's hope is in democratization and the earlier the better. Not only a thought, he was also fully determined to commit himself to the cause that he deemed noble and just.

1988:

Jianli fully believed that the first step of China's liberalization should be for the Chinese society to get out of CCP control. To turn this belief into action, Jianli in June initiated and organized the first democratic election for the Chinese Student and Scholars Association at Berkeley. He was then elected the president of the association. In his speech to the association as the first elected president, he declared that the organization would have no affiliation to the Chinese Embassy. This was the first independent overseas Chinese student organization in the US. In August, Jianji joined the "Chinese Alliance for Democracy (CAD)" and started working "officially" for China's democratic movement.

1989:

February and Marc: Professor Fang wrote an open letter to the paramount but behind scene leader Deng Xiaoping and the People's National Congress (PNC), asking the CCP leaders for an amnesty for Mr. Wei Jingsheng, the still jailed leading Chinese dissident from the 70s, and all other political prisoners. Jianli and another eight Chinese students started a signature drive among the overseas Chinese students on all US campuses they could reach to rally support to Professor Fang.

April: Mr. Hu Yaobang passed away. Jianli organized a conference at Berkeley in memory of Mr. Hu. Meanwhile, the later well-known student movement in Beijing broke out. Jianli, representing the Chinese students at Berkeley, demonstrated in front of the Chinese Consulate. He also organized a campus rally to show their support to the students in Beijing.

May: When Tiananmen students started hunger strike, Jianli as one of the organizers led several mass protests in front of the Chinese Consulate demanding a government dialogue with the Beijing students rather than a crackdown and started raising funds for Tiananmen students. On May 19 when the Chinese government declared martial law in Beijing, Jianli was determined to go back to Beijing to join the Tiananmen protest. Two days later, he went back to Beijing indeed with the fund they raised for the students there.

June: Jianli survived the June 4th Tiananmen massacre. He fled China and came back to the US on June 7. On June 21, Jianli appeared in front of the US Congressional Human Rights Committee as a witness of the Tiananmen massacre.

July: On the 7th and 8th of July, Jianli appeared as a witness again in the US Congress as well as the United Nations. Also in July, Jianli involved himself in the effort of a group of 15 student activists nationwide to form the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the US (IFCSS). The IFCSS was later established on July 28 in Chicago as a result, which was the first ever nationwide independent student federation with grassroots chapters in almost every US college campus that had Chinese students. In August, the preparation committee for the Chinese Democratic Front (CDF) was formed in Paris, France. Mr. Yan Jiaqi and Mr. Chen Yizi, both liberal high ranking CCP officials who fled to France after the Tiananmen massacre, were leading a worldwide effort to form the CDF and Jianli was put in charge of establishing CDF's US branch.

September: On September 29, Jianli attended the opening conference for CDF as a member of the chair committee and was elected a CDF council member and appointed to the chairman of the CDF US branch preparation committee.

October and December: Jianli traveled to many cities in the US to recruit members and establish grassroots organizations for the CDF. He also initiated a program know as "Helping Relatives of Tiananmen Victims Survive the First Bitter Winter", which helped over a hundred people in China who were put into unexpected hardship after the massacre.

1990:

February: On February 14, CDF US branch was established and Jianli was elected the first branch president.

Between March and May, Jianli finished a project known as "Little White Flower" for the first anniversary of the June 4th massacre. Later, US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, when visiting Beijing, brought some white flowers to Tiananmen for those who were killed in the massacre.

June: Jianli organized many activities in the Bay Area for the first anniversary of the June 4th massacre.

July: Jianli secrectly helped Mr. Xu Lin, a second secretary of the Chinese Embassy, defect the Chinese government and arranged to get his wife and child out of China.

September: Jianli helped organize CDF's 2nd World Conference in France.

October: Jianli was awarded "Outstanding Chinese Overseas Student" by a prestigious California foundation specialized in education.

November: he supervised the production of Volume I of the audio tape "Songs of Democracy" and distributed it to many US campuses.

1991:

January: Jianli advocated a grand unification of overseas Chinese democratic movement and became a member of a task force for such a unification.

April: On April 5, Jianli appeared again in Congress as a witness of China's worsening human rights record.

May through June: Jianli helped with the production and distribution of Volume II of "Songs of Democracy", which was part of the activities for the second anniversary of the June 4th massacre.

August through September: Jianli organized a series of activities at Berkeley to celebrate the democratization of the Soviet Union. In October, Jianli presided in Chicago the Unification Conference of Overseas Chinese Democratic Movement and drafted the "Declaration of Solidarity" for the movement.

1992:

January: Jianli co-chaired the "Round-table Meeting of Overseas Chinese Democratic Movement" for the strategies of unifying the movement.

March: Jianli organized a conference at Stanford on China's Three Gorge Dam Project. In the conference, Jianli for the first time advocated the idea for democracy activists to pay attention to non-political issues as well.

May: Jianli organized a conference at Harvard on "China's Economy after Deng Xiaoping's Trip to Southern China". This was the first of its kind among Chinese democrats that addressed issues other than pure politics.

June: Jianli as usual organized rallies in the Bay Area for the third anniversary of the June 4th massacre.

From July through December: Jianli was fully involved in preparing for the CDF-CAD unification conference.

1993:

January: the CDF-CAD unification conference was finally held. As a result, a unified organization, the Front of Chinese Democratic Alliance (FCDA), was established and Mr. Jianli was elected a Vice-President.

May: Jianli wrote an open letter, advocating nominating Mr. Wei Jingsheng, still in Chinese jail then, for Nobel Peace Prize. He organized a worldwide lobbying committee and acted as the chief coordinator. This effort continued every year since 1993.

June: Jianli moved to Harvard and organized a rally for June 4th in Boston. As a board member of the "Foundation for China in the 21st Century", Jianli helped organize the foundation's first international conference on "China's Future Constitutional Democracy". He participated in the foundation's project on drafting a constitution for a democratized China in the future.

1994:

February: Jianli helped activists inside China with their "Movement of Peaceful Constitutionalization" and acted as the movement's overseas coordinator.

April: Jianli helped organize a conference in New York on "China after Deng Xiaoping". In June, Jianli organized the activities in Boston to memorize the June 4th massacre five years ago in Beijing.

August: Organized and participated "The First Global Conference of Broadcasting to China", hosted by Foundation for China in the 21st Century at San Francisco, USA. The purpose of the conference was to promote the establishment of Radio Free Asia. ?

October: Organized conference titled "Reports of Human Rights in China" at Harvard,

December: Host "Talks between Overseas Students from across Straits" , discussion the relations between the democratization in Mainland and reunion of China.

1995

February: Appointed as the Executive Director of Foundation for China in the 21st Century by its board. Attended the annual President's Breakfast Prayer Meeting as a representative of China's dissident movement.

June: Participated the 6th Anniversary of June 4th Memorial held at Harvard University, Boston.

August: As Editing in Chief. began to edit and publish the collection of books and essays of "China's Series of 21st Century"

October: Hosted the first conversation between His Holy Dalai Lama and scholars from mainland China in Boston.

December: Published the Draft of Constitution of the Federation of China.

1996

May: Organized and hosted international conference of "the 30th Anniversary of China's Cultural Revolution". It's the largest international conference ever held in the world to discuss issues regarding China's Cultural Revolution.

June: Representing China's dissident movement to participate the 7th Anniversary of June 4th Memorial held in Taiwan. Went to Cambodia to provide help to Chinese dissident haunted by China's government there.

October: The Foundation for China in the 21st Century and Liberty House co-organized the 2nd Global Conference of Broadcasting to China. The purpose of the conference is to help the newly-established Radio Free Asia.

December: Testified on "the Hearing of China's Human Rights" held by the Human Rights Committee of the US Congress.

1997

February:

Attended the annual President's Breakfast Prayer Meeting as a representative of China's dissident movement.

May: Testified at US Congress regarding the persecution of Christian in China.

June: Organized and participated the 8th Anniversary of June 4th Memorial at Harvard University for Boston Areas.

September: Organized and participated the international conference of "China after CCP's 15th Congress" held in New York;

October: Organized and participated "Academic Conference of the 86th Anniversary of the Establishment of Republic of China" held in New York;

November: With the theme "Chinese Wants Human Rights, Too", he organized and hosted a series of big events protesting China's President Jiang Zeming's visiting Harvard. He debated with Harvard professor Ezera Vogel, who invited Jiang to visit Harvard, in a life radio broadcasting. The protesting was the biggest one in Cambridge since Anti-VietNam War demonstration. During those events, Jian-li received numerous threats and verbal attacks via phones and letters. The were "friends" from China's National Security Bureau called Jian-li and asked him to leave a "backup road" after Jiang returned China.

December: Assisted and helped the newly exiled famous dissident Mr. Wei Jingsheng to visit the White House, and arranged his California's visit.

1998

May: Organized the conversation between His Holy Dalai Lama and scholars with Han nationality from main land China .

June: Organized and participated the 9th Anniversary of June 4th Memorial at Harvard University for Boston Areas.

July: Helped the newly founded China's Democratic Party to draft documents, collect donations and began to finance its magazine "The Party Not In Power". The Foundation is the major overseas financial sponsor and Jian-li is the major overseas writer. "The Party Not In Power" has been published 12 issues.

September: Helped the newly founded "the United Federation of China Development", was elected as the only overseas Board of Executive Committee.

October: Representing the China's dissident movement to attend the "Third Global Human Rights Conference" held in Warsaw, Portland and introduced the current situation of dissident movement in China on the conference.

December: Elected as the Chairman of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century.

1999

February: Representing China's dissident movement to attend 1st conference of "Democratic Movement International", an non-government organization founded by representatives from more than 100 countries, held in New Deli, India.

Led the delegation of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century to visit Tibet Exile Government in India and met His Holy Dalai Lama. The two sides discussed the plan to promote the dialogs between various nationality and areas in China area.

April: Coordinated the demonstrations in different cities with the theme "Human Rights is the Answer, Not the Question" to protest China's Primer Zhu Rongji's visit in the US.

May: Participated the global signatures collection campaign initiated by the famous student's leader Wang Dan to memorize 10th Anniversary of June 4th.

June: Coordinated with Taiwan's Central Television and The World Federation of Freedom and Democracy to host the "Talks to Memorize the 10th Anniversary of June 4 " in Taipei, Taiwan. The panel moderators included Mr. Yan Jiaqi, Dr. Yang Jian-li, Mr. Guan Weiyan and Mr. Wan Ming, with other participants joined the discussion from other places in the world including famous student leaders and dissidents Mr. Wang Dan, Mr. Feng Congde, Mr. Jia Yutai, Mr. Zhang Weiguo, Mr. Wuer-kaixi, Mr. Chang Jing, Mr. Liu Junguo, Mr. Shen Tong, Mr. Yi Danxuan. The panel discussion was broadcast live to mainland China several times.

July: Organized and hosted on behalf of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century the "Prospect of China's Political Party and Politics" international academic conference in University of California at Berkeley, in which there were six scholars of mainland China attended the conference.

Won the "Wanrenjies' Award for News and Culture".

October: Organized and participated in the lectures of China's Democratization held in Kennedy School of Harvard University.

2000

June: Organized and participated the 11th June 4th Memorials held in Boston and Washington D. C. respectively. Organized and hosted "the Election and China's Future" international academic conference in Princeton University with six scholars participants came directly from mainland China.

August: Organized and Participated demonstrations against China's former premier Li Peng's visiting the United Nations.

October: Organized on behalf of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century the first "Ethic Youth Leadership Summer Camp". There are near 50 young leaders from different nationalities lived in China areas including Han, Tibet, Mogolinia, Voger and muslin participated this ground broken event. The purpose of the camp was to resolve the potential conflicts by building up mutual trusts, promoting the democratization in China and discussing the future political structure and relationships among different ethics. This was the first in China's history the leaders from different ethics and areas gathered together not by force, but for peace.

November: Representing China's dissident movement to attend the 2nd conference of "Democracy Movement International" held in St. Paul of Brazil and spoke on the conference.

December: Lectured on the 3rd annual meeting of the Union of China's Overseas Movement held on Ponn, Germany.

2001

January: Representing China's dissident movement to attend Taiwan's academic conference of the Preparation of Setting Up the National Human Rights Committee of Republic of China. Met President Chen Xuibian of Republic of China.

February: Invited by the US congress to attend the President's Breakfast Annual Prayer on third time.

March: The 7th book of the series of books and essays for China's 21st Century, of which Jian-li was the editor-in-chief, was published.

May: Gave feature speech on the working meeting of the China's overseas movement held in Oakland of New Zealand. Lectured on the following universities: University of Oakland, New Zealand; University of Wellington, New Zealand; Australian National University; Sydney Technology and Science University; Montana University, Australia

Held discussion panel in Australia.

Gave speech on "12th Anniversary of June 4th Memorial" in China.

Organized and hosted on behalf of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century the academic conference of "The Impact of Globalization on China's Political Reform and Across Straits Relations". Six scholars from mainland China attended the conference. And the famous Economist Ms. He Qinglian escaped out of China by attending this conference.

August: Founded the E-Magazine "China E-Weekly", the purpose of the magazine is to promote the building up of the constitution and demarcation in China. It reaches to more than 250,000 Chinese readers and 2,000 English readers per issue.

September:

Organized and hosted the 2nd Ethic Youth Leadership Camp in Boston.

Organized the "One Sentence" campaign in Boston and invited local Chinese and Americans to write down one sentence to memorize the "September 11" victims and condemn the terrorism. The Boston Globe gave a detailed report regarding this event.