[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.
                                 <all>