Fang Lizhi

Fang Lizhi (12 February 1936 – 6 April 2012) was an astrophysicist and Vice President of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), and one of the most prominent public intellectuals of the reform era, known for openly advocating democracy, human rights, and academic freedom on university campuses.

In a series of lectures at USTC and other institutions in the autumn and winter of 1986, Fang argued explicitly that China's modernisation could not be confined to the economic sphere but must encompass political democratisation. These lectures directly inspired the student movement that erupted at USTC in December 1986 and spread across the country. In January 1987, he was expelled from the CCP for 'spreading bourgeois liberalisation' and removed from his position as Vice President of USTC.

Following the Tiananmen crackdown of 4 June 1989, Fang and his wife Li Shuxian sought refuge in the United States Embassy in Beijing, remaining there for approximately a year before being permitted to leave China in June 1990. He subsequently taught at the University of Arizona until his death in Tucson in 2012, and is regarded as one of the most representative figures of liberal Chinese intellectual life in the late twentieth century.