Fang lizhi autobiography of a face

Fang Lizhi, a distinguished professor of astrophysics, luminary in the struggle for human rights in contemporary China, and frequent contributor to The New York Review, died suddenly on the morning of April 6. At age seventy-six he had not yet retired, and was preparing to leave home to teach a class when he commented to his wife that he did not feel quite right. She urged him to stay home and he agreed, saying he would call his department secretary to explain. A few minutes later he had died in his chair at his home office.

News of his passing spread quickly on the Chinese Internet. Students whom he had taught in the s and admirers of his eloquent championing of human rights wrote their accolades. State Security officials noticed, and within hours ordered Internet police to delete all messages that mentioned the words “Fang Lizhi.” After that, tweets about Fang on weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) disappeared about a minute after posting.

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All News - University of Arizona

Fang Lizhi (born February 12, , Beijing, China—died April 6, , Tucson, Arizona, U.S.) was a Chinese astrophysicist and dissident who was held by the Chinese leadership to be partially responsible for the student rebellion in Tiananmen Square.

The Most Wanted Man in China - Google Books

Fang Lizhi (Chinese: 方励之; pinyin: Fāng Lìzhī; February 12, – April 6, ) was a Chinese astrophysicist, vice-president of the University of Science and Technology of China, and activist whose liberal ideas inspired the pro-democracy student movement of –87 and, finally, the Tiananmen Square protests of [1].