[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 476 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
112th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 476
Honoring the contributions of the late Fang Lizhi to the people of
China and the cause of freedom.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 4, 2012
Mr. Lieberman (for himself, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Kyl, Mr. McCain, Mr.
Menendez, and Mr. Webb) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Honoring the contributions of the late Fang Lizhi to the people of
China and the cause of freedom.
Whereas the Chinese scientist and democracy advocate, Fang Lizhi, passed away at
his home in Tucson, Arizona, on April 6, 2012;
Whereas Fang Lizhi was born in February 1936 in Beijing, China;
Whereas, in 1952, Fang Lizhi enrolled in the Physics Department of Peking
University, where he met his future wife, Li Shuxian, and joined the
Chinese Communist Party in 1955;
Whereas, in 1955, Fang Lizhi openly questioned the lack of independent thinking
in China's education system and, in 1957, drafted a letter with Li
Shuxian and other associates proposing political reform;
Whereas Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian were sentenced to hard labor in 1957 and 1958,
respectively, as victims of China's Anti-Rightist Campaign;
Whereas, during China's Cultural Revolution, Fang Lizhi and other faculty
members and students of the University of Science and Technology of
China were sentenced to ``reeducation through labor'' in a coal mine and
a brick factory;
Whereas, after he was again freed from confinement, Fang Lizhi emerged as
China's leading astrophysicist and wrote the first modern Chinese-
language cosmological studies, although the theory of general relatively
contradicted Communist dogma;
Whereas, when he was appointed as vice president of the University of Science
and Technology of China in 1984, Fang Lizhi initiated a series of
reforms intended to democratize the management of the university and
enhance academic freedom;
Whereas, in the winter of 1986-1987, when Chinese students across China
protested on behalf of democracy and human rights, the Government of
China fired Fang Lizhi from his post at the University of Science and
Technology of China and subsequently purged him from the Communist
party;
Whereas when, in the wake of his purge, excerpts from Fang Lizhi's speeches were
distributed by authorities in China as examples of ``bourgeois
liberalism'', his writings became tremendously popular among Chinese
students;
Whereas, in February 1989, Fang Lizhi published an essay entitled ``China's
Despair and China's Hope'', in which he wrote, ``The road to democracy
has already been long and difficult, and is likely to remain difficult
for many years to come.'';
Whereas, in this essay, Fang Lizhi also wrote that ``it is precisely because
democracy is generated from below--despite the many frustrations and
disappointments in our present situation--I still view our future with
hope'';
Whereas, in the spring and early summer of 1989, Chinese students gathered in
Tiananmen Square to voice their support for democracy, as well as to
protest corruption in the Chinese Communist Party;
Whereas Fang Lizhi chose not to join the protests at Tiananmen Square in order
to demonstrate that the students were acting autonomously;
Whereas, from June 3 through 4, 1989, the Government of China directed the
People's Liberation Army to clear Tiananmen Square of protestors,
killing hundreds of students and other civilians in the process;
Whereas, the Government of China issued arrest warrants for Fang Lizhi and Li
Shuxian after the Tiananmen Massacre, accusing the pair of engaging in
``counterrevolutionary propaganda'' and denouncing Fang as the
``instigator of chaos which resulted in the deaths of many people'';
Whereas, on June 5, 1989, Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian were escorted by United
States diplomats to the United States Embassy in Beijing;
Whereas, between June 1989 and June 1990, United States diplomatic personnel
under the leadership of Ambassador James R. Lilley sheltered Fang Lizhi
and Li Shuxian at the United States Embassy in Beijing, despite the many
hardships it imposed on the mission;
Whereas, at a November 15, 1989, ceremony awarding Fang Lizhi the Robert F.
Kennedy Human Rights Award, Senator Edward M. Kennedy said of Fang
``What Andrei Sakharov was in Moscow, Fang Lizhi became in Beijing.'';
Whereas, on June 25, 1990, Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian were allowed to leave China
for the United Kingdom and then the United States;
Whereas, in 1992, Fang Lizhi received an appointment as a professor of physics
at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he continued his research
in astrophysics and advocating for human rights in China;
Whereas, in the years since June 4, 1989, a new generation of Chinese activists
has continued the struggle for democracy in their homeland, working
``from below'' to protect the rights of Chinese citizens, to increase
the openness of the Chinese political system, and to reduce corruption
among public officials; and
Whereas, with the passing of Fang Lizhi, China and the United States have lost a
great scientist and one of the most eloquent human rights advocates of
the modern era: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) mourns the loss of Fang Lizhi;
(2) honors the life, scientific contributions, and service
of Fang Lizhi to advance the cause of human freedom;
(3) offers the deepest condolences of the Senate to the
family and friends of Fang Lizhi; and
(4) stands with the people of China as they strive to
improve their way of life and create a government that is truly
democratic and respectful of international norms in the area of
human rights.
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