Wei Jingsheng facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wei Jingsheng
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| 魏京生 | |||||||||
Wei in 2013
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| Born | 20 May 1950 Beijing, China
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| Education | High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China | ||||||||
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| Known for | Leader of Democracy Wall Movement | ||||||||
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| Chinese | 魏京生 | ||||||||
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Wei Jingsheng (Chinese: 魏京生; born May 20, 1950) is a Chinese person who speaks up for human rights and democracy. He is famous for his part in the movement for democracy in China. He is best known for writing an important essay called "The Fifth Modernization". He put this essay on the Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978.
Because he wrote this essay, Wei was arrested and put in prison. The government said he was doing "counter-revolutionary" things. He was held as a political prisoner for many years, from 1979 to 1993. After a short time of freedom in 1993, Wei kept speaking out. He talked to journalists who visited China. Because of this, he was put in prison again from 1994 to 1997. In total, he spent 18 years in different prisons. On November 16, 1997, he was sent to the United States of America for health reasons. He is still a Chinese citizen. In 1998, Wei started the Wei Jingsheng Foundation in New York City. This group now works from Washington, D.C.. Its goal is to make human rights better and help China become more democratic.
Contents
Early Life
Wei Jingsheng was the oldest of four children. His parents worked for the Chinese Communist Party. In 1966, when he was 16, Wei joined the Red Guards. This was during a time called the Cultural Revolution. He lived in faraway country areas in Northern China. There, he talked to farmers. They told him about the widespread times of great hunger that happened a few years before. This was during the Great Leap Forward.
Wei learned that the communist government, led by Mao Zedong, played a part in causing these hard times. This made Wei start to question the way his country was run. He later wrote about this time: "I felt as if I had suddenly woken up from a long dream. But everyone around me was still in the dark." In 1973, he started working as an electrician at the Beijing Zoo.
The Democracy Wall Movement
Wei did not share his strong feelings in public until 1978. That year, he decided to join the new Democracy Wall movement in Beijing. On December 5, 1978, he put an essay he wrote on the wall. It was called "The Fifth Modernization." Wei's essay was a reply to an essay by China's leader, Deng Xiaoping. Deng's essay talked about the Four Modernizations.
Wei's main idea was that democracy should also be a goal for China. Deng's four goals were industry, farming, science and technology, and national defense. Wei believed democracy was just as important.
Wei signed his essay with his real name and address. This made his essay very famous right away. It was brave because he was not anonymous. It was also the only essay that named Deng Xiaoping directly. It even called him a dictator. Wei believed that people should be in charge of their own lives. He wrote that people do not need rulers or saviors. He said they did not want to be tools for dictators. Instead, they wanted to make life better for everyone. He said their only goals were democracy, freedom, and happiness for all.
Wei's ideas were different from most people in the Democracy Wall movement. Many thought the problem was between government workers and the people. But Wei argued that the main problem was the government system itself. He was one of the few activists who openly spoke against Marxism and the rule of a Marxist party.
Arrest and Time in Prison
Wei is also known for his work on a short-lived magazine called Explorations (探索) in 1979. In March 1979, he wrote a letter in the magazine. In it, he spoke out against the harsh conditions in Beijing's Qincheng Prison. The 10th Panchen Lama was held there.
His writings eventually led to his arrest and imprisonment. A writer named Orville Schell, who studies China, wrote about this. He said that Wei and other activists quickly put out a special magazine edition. It was called "Do We Want Democracy or a New Dictatorship?" This happened on March 25, when they heard arrests were coming.
Soon after, Wei and about thirty other Democracy Wall activists were arrested. In October, Wei Jingsheng was put on trial. He was accused of giving military information to a foreigner. He was also accused of trying to overthrow the government and the socialist system in China. For speaking his mind, Wei was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Wei spent a total of 18 years in different prisons in China. During this time, he wrote letters explaining his ideas. These letters were later put into a book called The Courage to Stand Alone: Letters from Prison and Other Writings. Some letters were written directly to Deng Xiaoping. Others were for Wei's family members. He stayed in prison until September 14, 1993. He was let go just one week before the International Olympic Committee voted on where to hold the 2000 Summer Olympics. Even after being released, Wei kept speaking out, even though he could be arrested again.
On February 27, 1994, Wei met with John Shattuck. Shattuck was a US Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights. They talked about human rights in China. Wei also met with journalists. The next week, Wei was arrested again, along with fifteen other people who wanted democracy and workers' rights. He was released soon after and sent away to Tianjin. But Wei was arrested again on April 1, 1994, when he tried to go back to Beijing. He was accused of planning against the state. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison. However, he only stayed in prison until November 16, 1997. He was released, supposedly for health reasons, and quickly sent to the United States. He was sent to the United States because of pressure from other countries, especially from US President Bill Clinton.
COVID-19 Claims
In a documentary from September 2021, Wei Jingsheng said he tried to warn American officials about COVID-19. He claimed this happened in October 2019. He said he got information about an outbreak from his contacts in Beijing. He also claimed that China knew about the virus much earlier than they said. He suggested they intentionally spread the virus during the World Military Games in Wuhan. These games took place between October 19 and 27, 2019.
Awards and Recognition
In 1996, Wei Jingsheng received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. He has won many other awards for human rights and democracy. These include the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1996, the National Endowment for Democracy Award in 1997, the Olof Palme Memorial Prize in 1994, and the International Activist Award from the Gleitsman Foundation in 1993.
See also
In Spanish: Wei Jingsheng para niños
- List of Chinese dissidents
- Wang Dan (dissident)
