Statement From Former Detainee Yongyi SongYongyi Song Dear Friends, I have known Dr. Yang Jianli since 1996 when I attended the Conference for 30th Anniversary of the Cultural Revolution in China at Harvard University. He was the organizer of that significant conference and we shared same research interest in the field of contemporary China studies. During the past six years of our academic correspondences and friendship, I have been strongly impressed by his number of great characteristics, especially his tireless seeking for truth with integrity and honesty. I have an interesting discussion recently with my American colleagues at Dickinson soon after Chinese authority arrested Jianli. Talking about Jianli as a Chinese citizen but cannot enter his own country, we made a joke as metaphor about his "crime" of forcing to use other friend's passport. Here is the story: "A man wants to enter his own house to help his family members but a thief stole his key. He has to brook the window to get into the house. Unfortunately, the thief hire a corrupted policeman to arrested him as 'illegal enter' and put him in jail." Does any man/woman in the world have his/her basic right to enter his/her own houses? Who really brook the law: the thief or the man? How ridiculously the policeman did? Everyone with common sense of justice will not difficult to figure them out.
Yongyi Song -------------------------- |