Interview with Fang Lizhi

Abstract

When Deng Xiaoping consolidated political power in 1978, Fang Lizhi was an obscure scientist working in a discipline—astrophysics—that according to the Chinese government did not even exist. A decade later Fang had become Deng's worst nightmare: China's most prominent and vocal advocate of democracy, and its most clear-minded critic of communist rule. More than any other individual, perhaps, Fang Lizhi sparked, stoked, and gave voice to the popular yearning for democracy in post-Mao China. This is the half-truth embedded in the Deng regime's characterization of him as one of the “black hands” behind the massive demonstrations of 1989, for though Fang did not lead the protests, he surely helped inspire them.