Though Behind Bars, Wei Jingsheng Would Not Be Silenced

During nearly 17 years of imprisonment under often harsh conditions, Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng kept his spirits alive by writing irreverent letters to China’s top leaders.

“I’ve written you so many times now that I’m probably beginning to get on your nerves and you are wondering, ‘Why can’t this guy just sit in prison quietly?’ ” Wei said in a November 1989 letter to the late “paramount leader” Deng Xiaoping.

“You looked fatter on television recently than you did when you were in Shanghai,” Wei joked familiarly in a September 1990 letter to Jiang Zemin, now China’s president and the former mayor of Shanghai.

In dozens of letters, notes, holiday greetings and unsolicited commentaries offered up to the Chinese leadership, Wei chatted amiably with and scolded, criticized and corrected the men and the system that put him in jail. Occasionally, he complained about his failing health. But mostly, he offered his blunt advice on how to run the country.

It isn’t certain how many of his letters, if any, reached their high-level addressees. But for many dissidents inside China and to thousands of supporters outside the country, Wei was China’s conscience in a prison cell. Practically single-handedly, he practiced democracy where there was none.

On an icy November morning here in the capital, China’s conscience, wrapped in an ailing 47-year-old body, left for the United States. Immediately after arriving in Detroit, Wei, said to be suffering from heart and stomach ailments, was taken to a hospital in the city.

No one is quite sure yet what Wei’s release will mean for him or for China.

“The American government, which did a lot of work to get Wei out, hopes very much that Wei’s release will be an important indicator of improvement in human rights,” said Liu Qing, a friend and former political prisoner now living in the U.S.

“The Chinese government also hopes that with Wei’s release, the international community will believe that China’s human rights situation is improving,” Liu added. “But this is obviously not the case. Since Wei Jingsheng was rearrested in 1994, China’s human rights situation, particularly the human rights of dissidents, has seriously deteriorated and regressed.”

Another Chinese dissident, recently released from a labor camp, said in an interview Sunday that he has little hope that Wei’s release will lead to any immediate relaxation in official attitudes toward dissent in China.

“The pressure on us has never really let up,” said the dissident, who asked not to be identified, “and the general atmosphere is still totally oppressive. Even someone as non-famous as me still gets police and neighborhood watch committee members stationed in front of my house, although I think the reason they have been there in the past couple days may be related to Wei’s release. My employers warned me to stay out of trouble.”

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Human rights advocates inside and outside China contend that Wei’s release is part of a cynical program by the Beijing government to both crush dissent inside the country and win international recognition by exporting its fiercest critics abroad, where they quickly lose their power.

“The government thinks they’re less of a danger outside of China than inside,” said Sophia Woodman, Hong Kong director of the group Human Rights in China. “But you can’t say that just because they’re outside of China, they don’t have any impact.”

Han Dongfang is an independent labor organizer who was jailed in 1989 after participating in that year’s pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. In 1992, he was released on medical parole and allowed to leave mainland China. He now lives in Hong Kong, where he remains politically active, hosting a Radio Free Asia program transmitted inside China.

“You only get two choices if you want to say the truth in China,” said Han, who was turned back by Chinese authorities when he tried to reenter the mainland in 1993. “You go to jail until you die, and are tortured and treated like an animal. Or you can leave the country.

“You have to make a choice between dying and surviving. If you die, you lose everything. If you survive, maybe you can do something. I chose to survive.”

Until Sunday, when he boarded a Northwest Airlines nonstop flight to Detroit, Wei consistently rejected opportunities to leave China, where he first rose to prominence during the 1978-79 interlude of free speech known as the Democracy Wall Movement. When he was briefly released from prison in 1993 after serving nearly all of a 15-year prison sentence for “counterrevolutionary incitement,” Wei immediately recommenced his outspoken political activities.

Detained in 1994 and sentenced to prison again in 1995, this time for 14 years on charges that he had conspired to subvert the state, Wei continued to vow he would remain in China. But this time, family members said, his already failing health took a turn for the worse.

A younger brother, Wei Xiaotao, said his famous brother’s heart condition and high blood pressure grew more serious during his recent internment at a prison in Hebei province.

“He used to need one tank of oxygen each week,” Wei Xiaotao said. “But now it was one tank every three days.” In the only official confirmation of Wei’s release, the state-run New China News Agency quoted a Justice Ministry official Sunday as saying that Wei had been released on medical parole.

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Because the release was not reported in the general media here, few people were aware it had occurred. Because of his many years inside prison, Wei’s renown inside China faded while it was kept alive abroad.

“I had heard from another dissident yesterday that Wei was going to be released,” said the recently released labor camp inmate. “I don’t know how he knew, but word was going around beforehand in certain circles. Of course I was very happy and thanked God for his release.”

Wei’s younger brother told Reuters news agency that the dissident “hopes to have a quiet medical checkup, have a rest and read some books. He wants to come back one day.”

Although many former dissidents have faded into near oblivion after leaving China, Human Rights Watch/Asia activist Robin Munro said Sunday in Hong Kong that Wei has a better chance than most of keeping a high profile.

“Wei is extraordinarily sophisticated and sharp,” Munro said. “He has an intuitive grasp of international affairs. I find it extraordinary for a person who has been shut away in jail for so long to have such an incisive grasp of issues. . . . I think Wei will be very effective, even overseas.”

But few people give China’s most famous dissident much chance of returning to his homeland in the near future.

“Under this regime,” said exiled labor leader Han, “he will never be allowed to return.”

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Tempest reported from Beijing and Farley from Hong Kong.

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A Dissident Life

On Saturday, Wei Jingsheng, China’s leading dissident, was released from prison, where he has spent much of his adult life.

* May 20, 1950

Wei Jingsheng born in Beijing to Communist Party officials Wei Zilin and Du Peijun. Eldest of four children.

* 1966

Wei leaves Beijing middle school without graduating, joins Red Guard and participates in early stages of Cultural Revolution.

* 1969

Enlists in People’s Liberation Army, serving in northwest China, achieving rank of squad commander.

* 1973

Completes military service and assigned job as electrician at Beijing Zoo.

* April 5, 1976

Wei participates in Tainanmen Square demonstrations after the death of Chinese Premier Chou En-lai.

* Dec. 5, 1978

Posts famous essay “The Fifth Modernization: Democracy” on Beijing’s Democracy Wall.

* Jan. 1979

Founds pro-democracy journal Exploration.

* March 25, 1979

Writes essay “Do We Want Democracy or New Autocracy?” critical of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.

* March 29, 1979

Arrested and placed in solitary confinement on death row in Beijing.

* Oct. 16, 1979

Tried and convicted on charges of “counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement.” Sentenced to 15 years in prison.

* Summer 1981

Placed in solitary cell at Beijing No. 1 Prison. Health begins to decline.

* Fall, 1984

Transferred to Tanggernu Farm “reform through labor camp” in remote Qinghai province.

* June 4, 1989

Chinese army cracks down on pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of civilians. Wei writes letter of protest to Deng Xiaoping.

* Late summer, 1989

Transferred to the Nanpu New Life Salt Works, a forced labor camp on Bo Hai Gulf near Tangshan.

* Sept. 14, 1993

Released from prison on probation to enhance China’s bid to host 2000 Olympics in Beijing. Resumes political activity, meets regularly with foreign reporters.

* Feb. 27, 1994

Meets with John H. Shattuck, U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.

* April 1994

Secretly detained and disappears from sight.

* Nov. 21, 1995

Formally arrested on charges of conspiracy to subvert the state.

* Dec. 13, 1995

Convicted in one-day trial. Sentenced to 14-year term and three years’ deprivation of political rights.

* Dec. 28, 1995

Appeal rejected. Returned to old cell at the Nanpu New Life Salt Works.

* Oct. 29, 1997

Chinese President Jiang Zemin meets with President Clinton in White House. Clinton calls for release of Wei and other political prisoners.

* Nov. 15, 1997

Wei Jingsheng released from prison on medical parole. Later leaves for U.S.

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Views on Freedom

“He needs to live. If he loses his life, what can he do?”

Wei Shanshan, sister of Wei Jingsheng (October 1997)

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“I am very capable of staying quiet, but if people don’t allow me to be, then I can also be very unquiet. This makes me no different from most people in our country.”

Wei (July 1997)

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“We put Wei Jingsheng behind bars, didn’t we? Did that damage China’s reputation? We haven’t released him, but China’s image has not been tarnished by that. Our reputation improves day by day!”

Deng Xiaoping, China’s “paramount leader” (1987)

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“No one can afford to look soft on dissent in this period of political succession. Of all the various dissidents, Wei Jingsheng is the one guy who’s gotten up Deng Xiaoping’s nose in a big way.”

John Kamm, California-based businessman (1995)

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“When he was first around in 1979, people were open to criticism of the government. But now, people are living better. They have money, and they have hope. He is just one man. Why are they (government) so afraid of him?”

Chinese government worker (December 1995)

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“It’s a very historic day. They have finally come to this--a clash between one man and the state.”

John Kamm, during Wei’s second trial (December 1995)

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“Such a big country, such a big party, and yet they cannot tolerate one or two works of criticism. They’re too fragile.”

Unnamed relative of Wei (November 1995)

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“For those who are good for nothing in other respects, grabbing power and persecuting other people is the only reliable way of protecting their interests.”

Wei in a letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin (1993)