Founder and President of Initiatives for China, Dr. Yang Jianli was born in Shandong Province in northern China. A graduate of Beijing Normal University, Dr. Yang holds a PhD. in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in Political Economy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. (Photo taken in Sep. 12 of 2007)

In 1989, at the age of 26, his fellow graduate students at Berkeley selected him to go to Beijing in support of their counterparts in China who were demonstrating for democracy in Tiananmen Square. He arrived in Tiananmen Square in time to witness the massacre of thousands of peaceful demonstrators by the guns and tanks of the Chinese government. This event fundamentally changed young Jianli’s future. He narrowly escaped capture and returned to the United States where he committed himself to studying democracy.

In 2002, after completing his Doctorate in Political Economy at Harvard, Dr. Yang returned to study the growing labor unrest in northern China. He was arrested and held incommunicado for over a year before he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to five years imprisonment for “espionage”. While he was in prison he was tortured and put in solitary confinement for long periods, during which he composed and committed to memory many poems and a now published book on achieving a peaceful transition to democracy in China.

Following an international outcry for his release, including a UN Resolution and a unanimous vote of both houses of the United States Congress calling for his freedom, Dr. Yang was finally freed in April of 2007. Since his release, Dr. Yang has repeatedly emphasized that he would probably still be in prison today, if it were not for the support of the American people. He firmly believes that the peaceful transition to democracy in China is dependent upon the U.S. leadership holding China accountable for respecting the human and political rights of its citizens.

A recipient of numerous awards, Dr. Yang is widely recognized as a leading voice and visionary among human rights and democracy advocates. He is the founder of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century and a co-author of a constitution for a democratic China. Dr. Yang created the Inter-ethic Leadership Conference and is the founder of China E-Weekly magazine. Most recently, at the urging of fellow democracy activists and opinion leaders in China, Dr. Yang founded Initiatives for China. Its mission is to empower the citizens of China by sowing the seeds of hope and giving voice to their struggles for a peaceful transition to democracy.

Dr. Yang Jianli’s Personal Website

Articles by Yang Jianli
Facets of Chinese Nationalism - Washington Post 05/05/2008

I was tortured in a Chinese prison. Now I’m marching for freedom 05/07/2008

China’s People Must Rise Up with Nonviolent Tactics - Christian Science Monitor 07/08/2008