Lü Jinghua facts for kids

Lü Jinghua (Chinese: 吕京花; pinyin: Lǚ Jīnghuā; born in 1960) is a Chinese activist who speaks up for what she believes in. She was an important member of the Beijing Workers' Autonomous Federation (BWAF) during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The BWAF was the first independent workers' group in China (officially called the People's Republic of China). It was different from the government-controlled workers' groups. Lü Jinghua worked as the group's broadcaster, sharing their messages.

After the government crackdown on June 4th, Lü Jinghua was put on China's most wanted list. She then had to leave the country and went to the United States.

Early Life

Lü Jinghua was born in a city called Chongqing. Her parents were strong supporters of the Communist Party. Her father joined the Party before China was established in 1949. Her mother was active in their neighborhood during the Cultural Revolution.

Lü Jinghua went to Yucai Middle School, where many of her classmates were children of army officers. She studied art for a year. After that, she had several different jobs, but none of them lasted very long. She worked for a trading company, on a chicken farm, and in 1986, she managed a private dress shop.

Role in Tiananmen Protests

How Lü Jinghua Joined the Protests

Every day, Lü Jinghua rode her bicycle past Tiananmen Square on her way to her dress shop. She often stopped to watch students march or listen to their speeches. At first, she wasn't very interested in politics.

However, when students started a hunger strike on May 13th, she began to help them. She brought food to the students who were protesting. In return, the students told her about their demands for democracy and stories about government corruption.

Lü Jinghua later said in a film:

We workers and ordinary people had been looking on. Then, when the students started the hunger strike, using their own lives to awaken the whole nation, people felt their responsibilities, and they rose up too.

Soon after, Lü Jinghua started marching with the students.

Becoming the Voice of the Workers

On May 26th, Lü Jinghua offered to help the Beijing Workers Autonomous Federation (BWAF), which had just been formed. She started by collecting money and help from her friends at the dress shop. Lü Jinghua was one of the few women to join the BWAF.

When students didn't let workers use the main loudspeakers in the square, the BWAF set up its own broadcast station. This station was near the western side of Tiananmen Square. It became very important for the BWAF, broadcasting messages from morning until evening.

Because of her strong and clear voice, Lü Jinghua became the main speaker for the union's public address system. She read out messages from many different people, including workers, journalists, government staff, and even soldiers. She read everything that was sent in, like poems, statements, requests for help, song lyrics, and announcements for protests. She also told inspiring stories to workers and people watching.

Helping the Workers' Movement

Lü Jinghua also helped make flyers and leaflets using a special printing machine. She bought books that showed government corruption. She visited factories nearby to encourage workers to support the students. From May 26th to June 3rd, she was the spokesperson for the BWAF.

In this role, Lü Jinghua saw how workers and students sometimes disagreed. She said that once, when she tried to talk to a student leader named Chai Ling, other students turned her away. They wanted to keep their movement "pure."

After the Crackdown

After the government troops moved into the square on June 3rd and 4th, Lü Jinghua helped destroy lists of BWAF members before leaving. On June 8th, the government declared the BWAF an illegal group. They ordered it to close down and called its leaders "major organizers" of unlawful activities.

After the crackdown, many BWAF members were arrested. Lü Jinghua spent several weeks hiding. First, she stayed in a friend's apartment. Then, she fled to Hebei Province, where her husband was working. Her husband, Li Zhilang, was later imprisoned for seven months for helping her hide.

On August 19th, Lü Jinghua was put on the Chinese government's most wanted list. She was the only female worker on this list. Eventually, she reached Guangzhou. From there, a secret network of Hong Kong activists and journalists helped her. On August 23rd, she safely crossed the border into Hong Kong.

In December 1989, she applied for help as a political refugee at the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong. Five months later, she arrived in Los Angeles, USA.

Life After Tiananmen

New Life in the United States

For a while, Lü Jinghua worked in a grocery store in Los Angeles. Then, she moved to New York. Because of her public appearances and work with human rights groups, she caught the attention of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (ILGWU). They hired her in 1990.

She worked as an organizer and educator with the ILGWU until 1996. After that, she started working with computer systems. Today, she sells real estate.

Continuing Her Activism

Since leaving China, Lü Jinghua has worked hard to support workers' rights and democracy in China. In 1990, she met with U.S. senators and a large American labor group (the AFL-CIO). She tried to convince them to help free Chinese workers, especially those put in prison after the Tiananmen protests.

Also in 1990, Human Rights Watch honored her for her efforts to help imprisoned labor activists in China. As of 2017, Lü Jinghua is the Vice Chair for the Chinese Alliance for Democracy. This group was started in 1983 by Wang Bingzhang and works for human rights and democracy in China.

Attempts to Return to China

Lü Jinghua tried to go back to China in 1992 to see her mother and daughter. However, she was not allowed to enter at Beijing Capital International Airport. In 1994, her daughter was able to join Lü Jinghua in New York. When her parents passed away in 1998 and 1999, the Chinese government did not give Lü Jinghua visas to attend their funerals.

In January 2011, Lü Jinghua was one of the few Chinese activists living outside China who was allowed to attend the funeral of Hong Kong activist Szeto Wah in Hong Kong. In April 2016, Lü Jinghua tried to travel to India for a conference about China's ethnic and religious groups and to meet with the Dalai Lama. But she was not allowed to enter India. She believed the Chinese government played a role in this, because of her part in the Tiananmen protests and China's view on Tibet and the Dalai Lama. However, the Indian government said she was denied entry because she applied for the wrong type of visa.