Jianli Yang

Major Leader of the Chinese Democracy Movement and president of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, Yang was imprisoned for five years by Chinese government for his activist. He was recently cited among the top 100 Chinese Public Intellectuals of 2009.

A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Yang is widely recognized as a leading architect for democracy in China, and is at the forefront of the Chinese Democracy Movement. He established the Foundation for China in the 21st Century and is the co-author of a constitution for a democratic China. He has testified on several occasions before the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives on the Human Rights situation in China.  Dr. Yang was protesting in Tiananmen Square when the now infamous massacre took place. His involvement in the cause put him on a list of 48 leaders banned from China by the Chinese government.

After spending five years in Chinese prisons, charged with “spying,” Jianli Yang returned to his adopted home in the United States in 2007. He had been banned from China after he supported the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, but used a friend’s passport in 2002 to reenter China to report on unfolding labor unrest.

He was detained and held by Chinese authorities without communication for almost a year, tried on trumped-up charges and by the time he was given a five-year sentence, he had already been held for two years. Dr. Yang had been tortured and detained without being allowed to go outside for several long stretches. Following an international outcry for his release, Dr. Yang was freed in April 2007. After Dr. Yang’s release, he was still denied a passport and other documents needed to return to the United States to his family for four months.

Dr. Yang received his BA and MA from Chinese universities in mathematics and statistics, respectively.  He went on to get his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkley, and received a second Ph.D. from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.  He was the recipient of the “Outstanding Chinese Student in America” award in 1990 and, more recently, elected by Chinese independent intellectuals one of top 100 Chinese Public Intellectuals of 2009 and recognized by Chinese Twitter users as one of 50 Most Respected Chinese Citizens of 2009.He has taught at the University of California, Berkley, University of the Pacific, as well as at the University of California at Santa Cruz.