One From the Vault: Fang Li Zhi At Beida

While I was at Beijing University in 1988, we had several high-profile visitors speak to students near the Shaoyuan dormitory. One of them was U.S. Ambassador Winston Lord, accompanied by his wife, the author Betty Bao Lord. Another was Astrophysicist and Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China, Fang Li Zhi, pictured here on May 4, an important day in Chinese history.

At the time this photo was taken, Fang Li Zhi had been expelled from the Communist Party for his political activism. Fang and his wife, Li Shuxian, met with students of Peking University, some of whom later became leaders in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Neither Fang nor Li  actively participated in those protests, but the day after Tiananmen, the Chinese government put Fang and Li on a "wanted" list. Both fled to the U.S. embassy to seek asylum. They remained in the embassy for nearly a year, during which time Fang received the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Award. When the Chinese government finally allowed them to leave the country, they flew to Britain. Fang ended up teaching physics at the University of Arizona. He died in 2012 at the age of 76.