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Fang Lizhi, one of China's most famous dissidents, whose speeches inspired student protesters throughout the 1980s, has died in the US, where he fled after China's 1989 military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. He was 76.
Fang Lizhi, the Chinese academic and dissident who inspired the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, has died at the age of 76 in the US.
Once China's leading astrophysicist, Fang and his wife hid in the US Embassy for 13 months after the crackdown. In exile, he was a physics professor at the University of Arizona, in Tucson.
Fellow revolutionist Wang Dan, who topped a list of 21 most-wanted student leaders in 1989, confirmed his friend's death in Tucson, Arizona, via Facebook and Twitter.
Fang's friend and fellow US-based exiled dissident Wang Dan wrote on Facebook and Twitter that Fang's death on Friday in Tucson was sudden and that he learned of it from Fang's wife. Wang confirmed his comments to AP in Beijing but declined an interview.
Wang said Fang had "inspired the 89 generation and awoke in the people for their yearning for human rights and democracy".
"I hope the Chinese people will never forget that there was once a thinker like Fang Lizhi. He inspired the '89 generation, and awoke in the people their yearning for human rights and democracy," Wang wrote. "One day, China will be proud to once have had Fang Lizhi."
He added: "At this moment, no words can express my grief. Fang Lizhi has inspired the '89 generation and has awakened the people's yearning for human rights and democracy."
"Fang is my spiritual teacher, his death is a major blow to me. At this moment, my grief is beyond words," Wang wrote.
Fang was labelled the "grandpuppetmaster" by the Communist regime, which blamed him for the demonstration on the 4 June 1989, in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The son of a postal clerk in Hangzhou, Fang was admitted to Beijing University in 1952, aged 16, to study theoretical physics and nuclear physics. He became one of China's pioneer researchers in laser theory.
He was dismissed from the Communist party and removed from his post at the University of Science and Technology.
He burst into political prominence during pro-democracy student demonstrations of 1986-8 when he became China's most outspoken and eloquent proponent of democratic reform. Authorities alleged his speeches to students at the University of Science and Technology, where he was vice-president, incited unrest.
Fang and his wife sought refuge in the US embassy in Beijing for over a year after the army crushed the pro-democracy protesters. China then accused them of counter-revolutionary crimes, tantamount to treason.
Fang was expelled from the Communist party and sacked from his university post. But he refused to be silenced and received letters of support from across the country almost daily.
The academic had no public role in the protests, but decided to seek shelter after pro-government supporters burned effigies of him. The authorities issued warrants for the arrest of him and other "liberalised intellectuals", which would almost certainly have led to a death penalty.
After the 4 June 1989 military crackdown that crushed the seven-week pro-democracy movement, Fang and his wife fled into the US embassy.
In June 1990, in a concession to Washington, Beijing allowed Lizhi to leave China to seek medical treatment abroad. China said the couple had shown "signs of repentance". They never returned.
Fang and Li had both been named in Chinese warrants that could have carried death sentences upon conviction. American diplomats refused to turn them over to Chinese authorities.
A collection of Fang's writings and speeches, Bringing Down the Great Wall: Writings on Science, Culture, and Democracy in China, was published in 1991.
China's decision to allow the couple to leave the country a year later eliminated a major obstacle to bettering China-US relations, which had deteriorated badly after the crackdown, which left hundreds and perhaps thousands dead.
