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BEIJING – Although blind human rights activist Chen Guangcheng has been cast into the international spotlight since his April 22 escape from house arrest and subsequent journey to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, he still remains an unfamiliar name — even to the majority of Chinese citizens, thanks to the country’s tight control of the press and social media.
On Friday, the U.S. and China seemed to have forged the outlines of a tentative deal to end the diplomatic standoff that would let Chen travel to the U.S. with his family for a university fellowship. In the meantime, Chen’s fate still hangs in the balance.
So what exactly did he do to anger Chinese authorities so much in the first place? It all began with Chen’s foray into social activism nearly 16 years ago, when he began fighting against the Linyi government.
Challenging authority
Born on Nov. 12, 1971, Chen grew up in a small village called Dongshigu, near Linyi City in eastern province of Shandong, approximately 400 miles from Beijing. He lost his sight after a severe fever when he was only a few months old.
He enrolled in Qingdao High School for the Blind in 1994 and graduated in 1998. It was during this time that he had his first experience questioning authority.
Deal nears on China activist Chen as US offers college fellowship
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said "progress had been made" on a deal over the future of Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident at the center of an international firestorm. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
In 1996 Chen traveled to Beijing to challenge the Linyi government’s taxing of disabled people even though a 1991 law exempted them from taxation. He won the appeal.
He kept fighting and in 1997 he irritated the local government again by appealing on behalf of his fellow villagers in a Beijing court to stop Linyi from breaking land laws.
Chen pursued these cases all without a formal law degree; he was a self-taught lawyer who had studied acupuncture and massage at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine from 1998 to 2001. His mother originally wanted him to become a masseur, the most common job for blind men in China, but he insisted on taking law classes on the side.
In September 2003, Chen sued the company that runs the Beijing subway system for making him buy subway tickets, despite the fact that the law said the subway should be free for disabled people. Chen again won the lawsuit.
Chinese crackdown on dissident's family and friends
Fighting abusive enforcement of the one-child policy
But what really brought Chen into the crosshairs of the Chinese government were his efforts to expose harsh illegal measures by local authorities in his hometown, Linyi, as they enforced China’s strict population control policy known as the "one-child policy."
Chen married Yuan Weijing in 2003 and their first son was born that year; in August 2005, they had a daughter. Some say the fact that they had two children, in defiance of China’s one-child policy, explains why Chen became interested in protesting family planning.
In 2005, the Linyi government started a campaign to "strictly enforce" the one-child policy by arresting and beating up women who broke the family planning law, forcing them to have abortions or sterilizations, heavily fining them and even arresting the relatives of those who had escaped to other cities. Chinese national laws prohibit such harsh acts.
Chen and Yuan investigated the cases and filed a class action lawsuit, while also revealing the brutality to the media. The lawsuit was rejected, but through Chen’s work the brutality of Linyi officials was exposed and drew attention from both domestic and international press.
(In particular, a Washington Post story in 2005, “Who Controls the Family?” first drew international attention to Chen’s crusade. And apparently, in thanks for that story, one of Chen’s first calls to the international media after leaving the U.S. embassy this week went to the Washington Post).
China censors 'Shawshank' as Clinton heads to Beijing amid dissident drama
Jail, then oppressive house arrest
After Chen refused negotiations with local officials to cease his activism, Chen was taken away by the police in March 2006. He was then officially arrested in June, and sentenced to four years and three months in prison for "destruction of property and disturbing public order." His trial was a controversial one because his lawyers were detained by Yinan police on the eve of the trial, leaving him defenseless in court.
During his jail sentence, in July 2008, his wife Yuan issued a public letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao, in which she said: "I hope the country’s leader can feel the insult and helplessness I have in my everyday life. I hope the leader will listen to a jailed blind man’s concern about the country’s future."
Chen was released from prison in 2010, but then he and his wife were subjected to house arrest which included constant 24-hour video surveillance. In February 2011 he smuggled out a video showing his life under house arrest.
"I was in a small prison, and now I am in a larger prison," Chen says to the camera in the hour-long video, which shows security agents peering over walls into the family’s home.
According to another video Chen released after his recent escape from house arrest, he estimated that authorities spent as much as 60 million yuan ($9.5 million) to keep him locked up.
True belief in the rule of law
During his one-and-half year long house detention, hundreds of people, including both Chinese and foreign journalists, lawyers, friends and human rights advocates, attempted to visit Chen but were all driven away, often violently by the thugs watching him day and night.
In December 2011, Hollywood actor Christian Bale made an effort to see him along with a CNN crew and he was shoved away.
Chen’s supporters say that ultimately his goal is to see that China lives up to the rule of law that already exists there.
Blind dissident's case a 'hot potato' for US-China relations
"Chen Guangcheng is someone who really believes in rule of law, and he wants to put what’s written in the law into practice," said Zeng Jinyan, a long-time friend of Chen family and also a human rights activist. "While so many people who can see are still talking about securing personal safety, Chen, a blind man, is already in action."
"People who know Chen say he is a Gandhi-esque figure and has a deep optimism that China will inevitably become a country ruled by law,” professor Susan L. Shirk, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of California in San Diego, told NBC News. “He is not a dissident, agitating for a change in government — he just wants China to enforce its own laws."
Many people attribute Chen’s ordeal to local government enforcement, arguing what they do is out of the ordinary, while many other believe it’s an order from the very top.
"Evidently, local officials in Linyi concluded that Chen would somehow threaten local stability if he were free to move about and speak up. Beijing did not intervene even when it realized that the actions of the Linyi officials were creating a national and international embarrassment," Kenneth Lieberthal, leading China expert at Brookings Institution, told NBC News. "The enormous reluctance by Beijing to intervene in these types of local decisions is the rule, not the exception."
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This guy is a badass.
Yeap, that's pretty cool.
I always look up to people who tell civil servants how to do their jobs. When those civil servants are corrupt Communist party thugs, it makes it all the sweeter.
China's central authority is sometimes mistaken as all controlling. A funny explanation told to me once was: In the PRC, the PLA is the Star Wars "Death Star" keeping the regional powers "in line".
One also has to factor corruption into these kinds of matters as well. While not "legal" the practices Chen fought against were probably "sanctioned" and thus his treatment.
This guy sounds like a pain in the ass no matter what country he lives in. He can't even make up his mind where he wants to go. Give him a month and he'll back in China again.
This guy probably needs to clean up has act and stay in China. They probably have a better safety net for dealing with his disability than the US does. He comes over here, he may wind up under an overpass with a shopping cart.
The republicans have embraced this guy because of his so-called "anti-abortion" stance. I just love this - he'll be here...he will receive a "fellowship" from NYU which will probably not cover his family's expenses; he'll make a case to bring all his extended family over here - and they will go on US benefits (and keep in mind- they are probably anti-abortion people as well).
Seriously - the guy sounded like a spoiled brat - demanding that he and family be transported out of China on Hillary's plane.
Now..what if this guy's country was Mexico - and he was afraid of retribution by the drug cartels. Do you really think the republicans would be turning all shades of grey to get him to the land of free speech???
Let's see, was charge to ride subway when the law said he could ride for free, and brought to surface the Chinese aren't to good a following the laws. That's good. Challanged the "family planning" law by having more than one child and flaunt it in the governments face, That's bad. For a government to punish the parents of a person that they can"t find. That's really wrong. He will come here get educated, challange Local, State, and Government laws, start a chain of acupuncture spas and get rich doing so.
@6dogs & Wondering - Perhaps you two are just jealous of the fact that he has aspirations and ideals, but doesn't have the opportunity to pursue them?
Also, do your homework, morons - he only wants asylum. He can't trust the big gov of his own country, so he's coming over here to make sure he lives to spread the word that China's [government] a degenerate piece of @!$%#.
And to address 6dogs over the acupuncture spa comment - so what? He did most of his training in his homeland, so I doubt he'd really need much training over here. And who are you to say he can't have a future?
Do me a favor, my KKK friend - find the nearest long, sharp, and stiff object and stick it up your goddamn @!$%#. You have no respect for anyone unless they obey the word of whomever you deign "Holy Lord Sovereign", and are White Americans.
Sure, I'm a white american myself, so that may be hypocritical, but there are days where I would rather have been born black or even Asian, Indian, Arabic - the list goes on, but you get my point (at least I hope you do).
And on a final note, I find it ironic that you'd support China's one-child policy when you Bible thumpers want to fill the world with children who you will then task with breeding more offspring (you won't say this of course, but you "Christians" aren't above incest, despite saying the opposite).
So in closing, let this man pursue what he wants. It's not doing you any harm, is it?
China is a pigotry - a bigoted government of pigs, by pigs, and for pigs.
So that's why they kicked him out of the embassy! If he comes here, he might speak up about how the gov't tramples all over The Constitution in the U.S.
Yep, pretty sure the Obama administration wants nothing to do with this guy.
Do you believe in coincidences? I do not believe in coincidences. How many self taught blind high school graduates do we have here in the USA? So! What did he do? In America it is not considered "good-form," to go PUBLIC let alone INTERNATIONAL with your D.S.M. Mental Disorder. And NOW he is coming here. God help us.
art-2739038
That much I agree with, but from then on I have no idea what point you're trying to make.
So what isn't a coincidence here? And what do you mean "how many self-taught bling high school graduates do have"? What does that have to do with anything?
@art
last time I checked blindness wasn't a mental disorder in the DSM or anywhere else
@Dust - PRE-CISELY! It irritates me that any disease must be mental, and therefore the DSM must be the tome of today's doctors. Newsflash - as a mentally disabled existence myself (I've long since renounced my humanity since I was asked quite rashly to do), I can vouch that psychiatrists are quacks. I've yet to meet one that actually does their friggin job instead of just yapping for 50 minutes a week to get that paycheck.
I'm not against people getting paid for their job, but I do expect them to not half-ass it. If you're hired for a job - ESPECIALLY one which you need extensive training to do and do well - then I expect you to put your back and your brain into it.
@art - Like a certain old fart who is still trying to usurp our own Senator's position on Congress, I believe you have zero intelligence. We actually have a guy who bears the mark of impairment that this Chinese man does - and guess what? He's probably one of the greatest musical talents to grace our country.
I'm not gonna give you a hint, it should be obvious if you even possess a mind capable of congruent thought.
Chen has tried to make ends meet in his own country, and only wishes asylum here until China decides to play by the rules. He studied acupuncture as an "official" career, but he did law studies as a side project to help him with his unofficial agenda - getting the Dobermen of Zedong to follow the rules like everyone else does.
In my opinion, you just don't want anyone who isn't you getting success. For your sin of envy and greed, I hope you drown eternally in gold and glamour once your "God" kicks you off the clouds in proper Leonidas fashion.
In the words of Sparta's own heraldry (refitted for the situation): THIS IS PARADISE!
Just what we need, another green card activist.
Shouldn't we be water-boarding him first to ensure he has no ill wills or intentions? <P>
Why let the Local law enforcement have all the fun?<P>
Get your at home water boarding kit today don't let the city / state and local police department be the only one water boarding suspects and prisons to ensure they have nothing to hide, get your kit and torturerer, i mean enjoy the pleasantries of water boarding as a family for your self.<P>
Now you too can water board your family, friends and enemy's enjoy the newest craze sport called Water-Boarding to ensure peace of mind. Recommended for all Schools, businesses, law enforcement and family's alike.<P>
IDIOTS
Who care, his 15 minutes of fame are up. Keep him in China and let him go back to the assembly line making cheap toxic toys. We sure don't need him here getting a free law degree and raising a ruckus here. This guy is nothing but trouble.
Can you be any more callous, ignorant, and blatantly retarded?
He got all his knowledge in the country of his origin - Law is not his primary "official" trade. It was a side-project undertaken to assist him in getting proper justice for the wrongs done to him. Also, Law Degrees differ from nation to nation - sure, he'd have to "refresh his resources", but how do you know he has any intention of doing so?
Seems that all this guy wants is fair play and the right to live, which you deny anyone who isn't you.
You have one hell of a stereotyping racist complex. May you burn in the fires of purgatory. Nox Sacramenti.
I don't agree with the Chinese government or it's practices, but this guy seems like a hypocrite.
He'll sue to force local governments to follow Chinese law, but when Chinese law doesn't fit his views (i.e. one child law), he doesn't care about it and doesn't think he has to follow it.
So you only have to follow the law when it's fits Chen's beliefs.
when they try to abort your 9 month pregnant wife because you already has a kid....
Yeah, how about that. He wants the law followed when it's something he likes, and wants to change it when he doesn't like a law.
It's like this guy thinks he lives in a democracy or something. What a clown!
@Tubal
Even under China's restrictive one-child policy the government isn't legally allowed to forcibly sterilize, abort, and beat women for having a second child. Usually what's supposed to happen is that families are fined for when they have a second child.
so who is going to pay for him to come here,and who paying for him to go to school here???? we help him and we helped bin laden and you see what that got us!!!! help us american first !!!!!!
Javier, I would like to inform you that we were never "helping" Bin Laden, we just had an ignorant ass excuse of a man wasting money on a senseless invasion.
Also, I'm pretty sure he doesn't intend to stay long. He's just looking out for his own life, because Zedong's Dobermans are attempting to off him in the most excruciating way.
One last minor detail before I go, Javier - brush up on your English, please. I'm not going to call you an "illegal" because that would A)not be entirely accurate with what info I possess, and B)it would be heavily judgmental and go against my beliefs as an individual.
But I do think you need to brush up on your spelling and grammar.
Ignoring the national laws, in favor of the local "thugs", is the rule. This is similar to the call for "states rights". At the local level, people can have their basic rights trampled upon. We expect the federal government to protect these basic rights. Chen is right.
That must be doubly tough, given the Chinese federal government's record for respecting human rights.
Chen is right. Everyone must obey the laws, but China courts do not have the independence and their judges are not free to make any decision based strictly on the letter of their laws. I had sued the Fed (represented by the DOJ) and won in the Court of Appeal by myself with only a couple years of self-study in US laws. I know Cheng will have a very good time in the US and making a big mess for the China government.
I wish to thank the three judges whom had patiently spent much time studying my not-so-clear arguments, and ruled in my favor against the DOJ. I also wish to thank the US Supreme Court for refusing to review the 1993 Appeal Court's decision forcing the DOJ to settle with me.
He would be excellant for our blog. Just like us, thinking we know everything about our laws, our crimes,our problems in the world, and politics. Watch out oh, Chong will get ticked if you park in his handicap spot.
Perhaps I should crack your skull from the Blue North, grind your bones to paste on the Yellow West, burn your brains in the Red Southern Flames, and proceed to feed your feces to the Eastern Green Grass?
Even that would not make up for your obvious racism, Deb. No, I fear I'd need to do far worse to you to make you realize you are nothing but a KKK dweeb.
And furthermore, I doubt he knows much, but he sure has a mind. He'll figure it out somehow. After all, he DID figure out a way to piss Zedong's Dobermans off enough to make them blood-drunk.
what about this news its crazy folk...
now my freind this great country folks, sorry to india again , but for what? this is just media india do the same makeing jokes of others , so what we didi the same. last month US Govt oplogoise for some mishap with an ator, now guess what happened , they have now new VIP terminal. sorry folks , is this the use of money lolollll on my self lolololol
what the hell are you jammering on about???
Well said. One should think the welfare or vegan doth hyperbolt the scringlings,
hayat--I take it that you are testing out a new computer program which will randomly generate posts so that you can earn money each time it posts? I know that one can make a living posting on MSN and punking it, but you are going to have to do a tad better than this.
Keep working on that code--you'll get it right eventually.
Interesting back story about this man.
As for China's behavior in all of this, it just sounds like the growing pains of their judicial system, and how they are coming to terms with rights, particularly with regard to one's self-determination. The fact that the Chinese court system seems to work fairly well at the national level bodes well for the future of China's evolution away from totalitarianism. China has to be the most fascinating country on earth these days.
Huh. And here I thought he was a democracy protester.
Still, the man does good work. It's can't be easy to fight the government in Chinese courts, where they're not even independent of the executive branch.
SF
How about fighting in copurt here?
A dreadful prospect, but often successful. Our judiciary is highly respected by nearly every sector of American society. When was the last time you heard of a politician talking about the need for judicial reform?
SF:
Hillary Clinton knows better..the run away court system lead to her husabnd almost losing office.
Florid Zimmerman also says working of Governemnt and mob pressure.
In USA we are crushed by the laws. Kennedys can get away with murder but poor black can be railroaded for many years of hell hole for few grams of crack.
Courts in USA does not work. If have to read what laws you have to follow..you will be reading it for life time. No individual knows it. Unknowing violation of laws are being adjudicated by judges, prosecutors with political ambition and unprepared defense lawyer. Government wins more than 90 % of the time and if they do not win first time, they will try again. That is how Governor of Illinois was convicted because he palyed politics as it is played in Chicago.
Chinese Government single focus is population control..and surprisongly Governemnt at all levels and courts understood that. Here we wait for majority of Supreme court to decide..untill a different court with different bend of philosophy changes it other way.
The conflicts of the legal system on the level of high-level politicians are about politics, not law. Everyone knows that. Everyone also knows about crack possession and the penalties involved, so that's not a convincing argument for sympathy.
If you're saying there are too many laws, I agree with you completely. But that's not a problem with our courts, that's a problem with our legislature and executive branch that think government is the solution to every problem in society. The courts themselves are a problem when they enforce political mandates (as they do in Venezuela, for example) or give sentences without any sort of due process (as they sometimes do in Russia and China).
Also, the Chinese government is not singularly concerned with population control. That is the focus of a few inane hardliners. The Chinese government is far more concerned with its economy, social stability, and international clout, all of which are threatened by their draconian one-child policy.
Finally, so what if the Supreme Court changes its mind? Law in a democracy should not be insurmountable, but mutable. If a law doesn't work (as many of them don't), or if the priorities of the populace change, then it is right and fair that the law change to reflect that.
China has a serious population problem. I support Chinese Government policy of one child. 1.5 Billion people by any standard are too many.
In USA he will be anti abortion activist saved by President who is quite the opposite. He will also find out that here also poor people have less voice. It is hard for ordinary peroson to go that high in courts without money and win cases. In that sense Chinese society functions. Rest in we know how it works. Polcie brutality is kind of sushsush policy. Ordinary people have no voice and goint to court..you never win against Governemnt unless you are rich of supported by sometalent lawyer out of his own or organization that has resources.
To be like Gandhi is not easy. He went to prison many times but he did not ask for safe package. He said his work is where he belongs. He could have been White man's guest for life. It would have been cheaper for the British if he would have been offfered and accepted. Form that perspective this dude is escaping to the richest country in the world. Who will not do that. There are lines of millions waiting and qualified to come here.
Poor people have much more voice here than in China. Poor people can vote irrespective of their income levels. In some states they don't even need to have an ID card, and businesses are required to give them time off on voting day if they need it.
And I hardly think Chen qualifies as an "anti-abortion activist". He doesn't want the government forcing people to have abortions, which I think is entirely right and fair. The one child policy - like just about EVERY radical attempt by government to control people's lives - has resulted in a horrific demographic imbalance in the country that could severely cripple it when the current working population goes into retirement. That doesn't mean he's pro-life and thinks abortion should be outlawed.
SF - Do we even know if he's staying permanently? Long term, I might be inclined to predict, only because China's being a inconsiderate brat, but not permanent.
Some people prefer to live where they were born - they just need a sanctuary when crap like this occurs that threatens to end their lives (prematurely too, at that).
The rule of Beijing and the Central Committee of the Communist Party is largely dependent upon the support of 21st century feudal warlords. Nothing has really changed in China for thousands of years, nor is it likely to.
How exactly does saving this guy from the wrath of China benefit the United States?
Well, drop him off in a Mexico settlement, like Ft Collins Co or Brownsville Tx or Garden City Ks. I do not believe he should have been brought to the United States. There are many other Countries those seeking Asylum could go regardless of race, national origin or disabilities.
This is the government so fulsomely praised a few weeks ago by Mitt Romney.
"I got the chance after I lost to John McCain last time, to go over to -- that was the good part of losing -- I got to go to the Olympic Games in China. It's pretty impressive over there how quickly they can build things, how productive they are as a society. You should see their airport compared to our airports, their highways, their train systems. They're moving quickly in part because the regulators see their job as encouraging private people. It's amazing. The head of Coca-Cola said the business environment is friendlier in China than in America. And that's because of the regulators. That's because of government."
Maybe he did not think this would be a problem. Just saying, he might not have seen it coming.
Chen's saga reinforces my contempt for the Chinese government - It seems to me that our government's policy towards a major human-rights violator is lacking - I see plenty of strong talk, no action, on the part of the American government towards China!
I pray that Chen and his family can migrate to America, no matter what the pretense! I pray that our government stops the double-talk, and puts some actions behind its warnings to China!!
So Rah13, what do you think of our police force using pepper spray on protestors last year?
Oh, I remember the excuse this cop used, he felt 'trapped' by students just sitting around in an area that they are allowed to gather in...
This guy probably needs to clean up has act and stay in China. They probably have a better safety net for dealing with his disability than the US does. He comes over here, he may wind up under an overpass with a shopping cart. We don't have a real safety net for the severely disabled. He needs to rethink this and come up with a better plan.
WTF is wrong with you Guys-Chan got what he wanted-now Yanks PAY for it. How Stupid can the US government be?
Chen is a peoples hero but it still remains that most of China still likes the law and the law is the law. Is Chen really coming here and all will be ok? He will want his wife and kid, what‘s this going to cost. I don’t know but is it really up to us to tell a better country what to do and bully them. Chen Guangcheng is a good hearted person but not everyone is agreeing with the actions taking place. China has lots of smart and people of good potential and they could look at a pro immigration campaign. This would make it so the whole world benefited from China’s people and that child birth laws and sterilization laws were not needed. It looks like a war of some kind will come from China if they get to the point of people never being allowed to have kids or certain years only for people to make a child. The whole world might have to hear from China. I don’t know but certain people from the Far East might try and kill Chen Guangcheng, on there own terms. There are a lot of people who don’t like this type of standing out behavior from this area of the world.
Ah, MSNBC forgot to mention his final real motivation, free education and living expense in the US.
The only reason he left the embassy was because he was too tempted when Chinese university caved and offered him a job and degree if he left the embassy.
Then, he changed his mind when he finds out that a US university is also willing to give him the same deal, but an American degree is worth more, plus the more luxury life when he gets here.
Also, he wants free healthcare at our expense. What can he do for the country that he wants to live in? Nothing!
The Chinese political rulers suck, and they make China suck. So China sucks.
He documented 7000 cases of forced abortion in one provence. That kind of activism in China is not allowed as they are now trying to appear to be a more humanistic country. The suicide rate for women in China is higher than that for men. It is the only country that has that statistic. We have a lot of nerve using the term "War On Women."