For years, Chinese dissident and human rights activist Jianli Yang has felt the wrath of the Chinese Communist Party firsthand. In 1989 as a graduate student, he took part in the peaceful, pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square. He survived the massacre that killed hundreds, and maybe thousands, of innocent civilians, who courageously called for a more open and free society.

After 10 years in exile, Jianli returned to China, and he was soon arrested and imprisoned for speaking out against the Communist Party. After international pressure from President Bush, the U.S. Congress and others, Jianli was finally released in 2007 after spending 5 years as a political prisoner – much of that time in solitary confinement.

Since gaining his freedom, Jianli has dedicated his entire life to promoting a peaceful democratization of China and speaking out for the human rights of the Chinese people. He discusses the realities of today’s Chinese Communist Party, and the challenging outlook for ordinary Chinese citizens in the years to come.

Dr. Jianli Yang was born in Shandong Province in northern China and graduated from college at the age of 19. A rising star in the Chinese Communist Party, Jianli quickly became disenchanted by the corruption and duplicity he witnessed in the communist system. He left China to pursue a career in Mathematics at U.C. Berkeley.

In 1989, at the age of 26, his fellow graduate students at Berkeley elected him to go back to Beijing in support of their counterparts in China who were demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square. After escaping the gruesome massacre, Jianli dedicated his entire life in promoting a peaceful democratization. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from U.C. Berkeley and Ph.D. in Political Economics from Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

When he returned to China again in 2002, he was put in prison for 5 years – much of that time in solitary confinement. Upon his release, Jianli founded Citizen Power Initiatives for China.