Activist jailed for 5 years in China returns with hope, not angerThe Boston Globe August 21, 2007 Locked in Chinese prisons for five years, Yang Jianli endured physical and psychological torture. Cut off, at times, from all human contact, he fell into despair. He was consumed with worry when his jailers hinted -- falsely -- that his wife and young son had been taken into custody. On Saturday, the Chinese activist and Harvard graduate returned home at last to Boston. His wife, Christina Fu, a Harvard researcher, and his son, now 12, greeted him at Logan Airport. The couple also has a 15-year-old daughter, who was traveling in China and saw her father after his release from prison. Monday, in his first public comments since his release from prison four months ago, Yang, 44, said he left China more hopeful than ever about the country's future, and without bitterness toward the people who jailed him. His case over the years captured widespread attention as his wife lobbied to the highest levels of US government on his behalf, with help from dozens of Harvard faculty members. Members from both houses of Congress also called for Yang's release and urged President Bush to raise the issue with the Chinese president. Yang, the co-founder of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, a pro-democracy group based in Boston, was imprisoned in China in 2002 after he used a friend's passport to enter the country illegally so he could report on unfolding labor unrest. "The only enemy is the autocratic system -- I have no personal enemy," he said in an interview with the Globe. "I respect even my guards, my interrogators, my prosecutors as human beings. What they do is understandable -- not acceptable, but understandable. Being a dissident in China, it's very difficult to avoid being imprisoned, harassed." Richard Zeckhauser, a Kennedy School professor who was an academic adviser to Yang and helped lobby for his release, said he was thrilled to hear a message from Yang on his office voicemail yesterday. "This guy has gone through a lot, but he sounded exactly like he did six years ago . . .. He'll storm back and be a whirlwind, again," Zeckhauser said. "I just hope China changes in such a way that it can capitalize on his talents," he added. "I'm very happy to have him here in the US, but he could be such a positive force in a country with so much potential, that makes so many mistakes." A call seeking comment from the press office at the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., was not returned yesterday. A Chinese citizen with permanent resident status in the US, Yang first came to the United States to attend college in 1986. He earned a doctorate degree in math from the University of California at Berkeley, but remained active in pro-democracy efforts in China, where he supported student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. After he testified before Congress about the use of violence by military troops, the Chinese government seized his passport. -------------------------- |