Wei at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on the 25th anniversary of the Sakharov Prize, 20 November 2013
Born
(1950-05-20) 20 May 1950 (age 73)
Beijing, China
Education
High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China
Occupations
Writer
human rights activist
Known for
Leader of Democracy Wall Movement
Awards
Olof Palme Prize
Sakharov Prize
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award
Wei Jingsheng
Chinese
魏京生
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin
Wèi Jīngshēng
IPA
[wêɪ tɕíŋʂə́ŋ]
Wei Jingsheng (Chinese: 魏京生; born 20 May 1950) is a Chinese human rights activist and dissident. He is best known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement. He is most prominent for having authored the essay "The Fifth Modernization", which was posted on the Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978. As punishment for writing his manifesto, Wei was arrested and convicted of "counter-revolutionary" activities, and he was detained as a political prisoner from 1979 to 1993.[1][2] Briefly released in 1993, Wei continued to engage in his dissident activities by speaking to visiting journalists, and as punishment, he was imprisoned again from 1994 to 1997, making it a total of 18 years he has spent in various prisons. He was deported to the United States of America on 16 November 1997, on medical parole.[3] Still a Chinese citizen, in 1998 Wei established the Wei Jingsheng Foundation in New York City (now based in Washington, D.C.) whose stated aim is to work to improve human rights and advocate democratization in China.
^Rone Tempest, "Longtime Prisoner Freed in China", Los Angeles Times, 14 September 1993.
^James D. Seymour, Richard Anderson, "New Ghosts, Old Ghosts:Prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China" (M.E. Sharpe, Inc, 1998), p. 159.
^Jingsheng, Wei (1997). The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters from Prison and Other Writings. New York: Penguin. p. Introduction.
WeiJingsheng (Chinese: 魏京生; born 20 May 1950) is a Chinese human rights activist and dissident. He is best known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy...
Tansuo (Explorations), a journal he founded in the late 1970s with WeiJingsheng. Liu played a leading role in the Democracy Wall and was arrested (when...
"The Fifth Modernization" is an essay by human rights activist WeiJingsheng, originally begun as a signed wall poster placed on the Democracy Wall in...
Modernization: Democracy and Others" written by writer and activist WeiJingsheng, was posted on Democracy Wall. This long article strongly criticized...
develop hydroelectric power.: 204 On December 5, 1978, former red guard WeiJingsheng posted "democracy" as the Fifth Modernization on the Democracy Wall...
documentary also featured an interview with Chinese human rights activist WeiJingsheng, who claimed in the documentary that he attempted to warn United States...
Modernization manifesto by WeiJingsheng, who was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for authoring the document. In it, Wei argued that political liberalization...
registered by some local authorities. The Democracy Wall Movement dissident WeiJingsheng was released and exiled, China signed the International Covenant on...
Students for a Free Tibet, Palden Gyatso – Former Political Prisoner, WeiJingsheng – Chinese Democracy Activist and Former Political Prisoner Amsterdam...
attack by conservatives as early as 1979. Events such as the trial of WeiJingsheng signalled writers that there were limits to the open discussion of the...
who was imprisoned for 15 years for being a member of the PKK 1996 WeiJingsheng China Activist in the Chinese democracy movement 1997 Salima Ghezali...
critics began to arise within the system, including the famous dissident WeiJingsheng, who coined the term "fifth modernization" in reference to democracy...
Gulag system List of refugees Ivan Bunin Czesław Miłosz Đoàn Văn Toại WeiJingsheng Yevgeny Zamyatin In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs...
time and not providing prisoners with enough water.[citation needed] WeiJingsheng had published under his name in March 1979 an essay denouncing the inhumane...
Ngawang Sangdrol, Phuntsog Nyidron, Takna Jigme Zangpo, Wang Dan, WeiJingsheng, Gao Zhan and Fang Lizhi.[citation needed] Until 2001, parole in Israel...
Arzu Abdullayeva and Anahit Bayandour 1993 Students for Sarajevo 1994 WeiJingsheng 1995 Fatah Youth, Labour Young Leadership and Peace Now 1996 Casa Alianza...
big-character posters was protected by the Constitution. On December 5, WeiJingsheng, an electrician at the Beijing Zoo, posted The Fifth Modernization a...
Osofsky, Hari M. (1998). "Understanding "Hostage-Diplomacy": e Release of WeiJingsheng and Wang Dan". Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal. 1 (1):...
Awardees of the Second Annual "WeiJingsheng Chinese Democracy Champion Prize" by the WeiJingsheng Foundation". WeiJingsheng Foundation. Wilson, Brian (2013-07-17)...
some radical reformers within Chinese democracy movement, such as WeiJingsheng, see the moderate Liu as the wrong choice due to his advocacy of a gradual...
criminal and stated that he does not deserve the prize. Chinese dissident WeiJingsheng, in his response to news of the award, criticized Liu by calling him...
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