On May 4, 2008, Dr. Yang Jianli, one of the survivors of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and a survivor of China's prison camps, started his month-long, 500-mile walk from Boston to Washington, DC. Hundreds of people gathered at the Boston City Hall Plaza to participate in the departure ceremony.
Representatives of various groups spoke at the assembly to support and pray for Dr. Yang's walk. Governor Patrick, on behalf of all Massachusetts citizens, wrote a letter in support of Dr. Yang's peaceful effort to stand up for human rights in China.
Yang Jianli called his walk the GongMin Walk, GongMin is the Chinese term of "citizen." "I'm walking for "citizen power" in China," explained Yang.
"May 4 is a very significant date in the history of China," said Dr. Yang in his speech at the assembly. "On this day 89 years ago, students in Beijing went into the streets to call for democracy and freedom. My walk today continues to call for democracy and freedom, which has not yet been accomplished. My walk will conclude in Washington DC on June 4, another historic date. On June 4, 2008, I will join a large group of human rights advocates and political and religious groups to honor the Chinese demonstrators who were killed in Tiananmen Square on that same date 19 years ago."
"After five years as a political prisoner, I'm once again free thanks to the efforts of countless friends in the United States," said Dr. Yang. "But I'm walking not simply for my personal freedom. I am walking on behalf of the hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens who cannot walk with freedom."
"At a time when the eyes of the world are on China as it prepares to host the Olympic Games, I'm walking to draw attention to those voices are smothered by the Chinese government," said Dr. Yang. "I'm walking for the powerless whose land has been grabbed by China's officials and their associates. I'm walking for the powerless, who face forced evictions because their homes were demolished for Olympic beautification and to make a way for government supported developers. I'm walking for the Tibetan monks, the Falun Gong practitioners, the underground house church members, the petitioners, the human rights defenders, the political prisoners who fill Chinese prisons. I'm walking for all citizens of China who wish for freedom and democracy."
The audience greeted Dr. Yang's speech with warm applause. Representatives of various religious groups prayed together for Dr. Yang's walk to be blessed.
Dr. Yang's walk will be broadcast live on www.helloworld.com/gongminwalk. He welcomes any messages or comments at any time.
Given his active involvement in the democratic movement, Dr. Yang Jianli was blacklisted by the Chinese Communist Party. He has been refused permission to renew his Chinese passport.
Dr. Yang is prohibited from returning to China. He returned to China in 2002 on a friend's passport to investigate the labor unrest in the Northeast part of China, and was arrested in Yunnan province and was indicted by the Chinese authorities on charges of espionage. Dr. Yang was imprisoned for five years. He was released on April 27, 2007.
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