Zhao Pinglu, 1956 - 2004
China's democracy movement loses a popular leader to cancer at the age of 47

CSN

Zhao Pinglu was both a labor leader and a popular dissident. In the 1989 uprising at Tiananmen Square, he took a hand, organizing the worker's movement in support of the students, who were then running the square in the midst of Beijing. After the Communist Chinese government cleared the square, using bullets, guns, and tanks to massacre thousands of innocent civilians, Zhao Pinglu was then on the "21 most wanted" list of the authorities in Beijing.

Zhao evaded capture for three years and was smuggled out of China to freedom in Hong Kong in 1992.

He continued the fight for freedom and democracy from exile in Flushing, New York, where he has lived with his wife and son while awaiting a green card that never came from the U.S. government.

In his day job, he was a construction worker. He kept his capacity as the Chair of the International Association of Chinese Workers. In this movement, he co-founded the Free China Movement in 1998, and was the elected President of the coalition from 2000 - 2001. Soon thereafter, he was diagnosed with cancer, and his health had been deteriorating in the past two years.

In late 2001, he co-sponsored an Op-Ed as part of a "practical idealists group." (Link to that article: http://www.chinasupport.net/topbuzz2.htm.) At the Center for the Survival of Western Democracies, Isak Baldwin termed Mr. Zhao "a great man" and "a great fighter." At the China Support Network, John Kusumi said, "His is an untimely death, and the contributions of Zhao Pinglu were cut short too soon. While that is so, it is also true that Zhao Pinglu was an accomplished, tall figure, and he became a legendary hero in his own time. His confidence was placed in us, the living, to continue his fight. He will be missed, but because he gave to China selflessly, he will continue to give and to inspire -- even after his passing."

In its statement, the Free China Movement said, "We are sad to see him leaving us and the freedom cause he has been fighting for. He told us recently when he was able to talk that he’ll never regret the price he is paying for the fight for a Free China and was sad to not be able to see it coming during his lifetime."

Mr. Zhao is survived by his ailing wife, and 20-year-old son in New York. Dissidents have formed a Preparatory Committee for Mr. Zhao's Memorial Service and announced the Zhao Pinglu Memorial Trust Fund. The trust fund hopes to help with the cost of education for Zhao's son, as well as to assist his wife who is left with ailments in poverty; and, to cover final expenses of the memorial and shipping his ashes to Beijing.

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Source: "CSN".