Fang Lizhi - Political Activism

Political Activism

During the Anti-Rightist Campaign, Fang was expelled from the Communist Party of China for his "reactionary activities", viz. publishing an article critical of the government's policies on science education.

He was rehabilitated after the reform of China in late 1970s, and resumed his party membership. During this time, he held many academic positions, including the director of the astrophysics research group of USTC, and director of the science history research group, chief editor of the USTC academic journal, chair of the Chinese society of gravity and relativistic astrophysics. In 1984, Fang was appointed as the vice president of the USTC under president Guan Weiyan. Fang was very active in this role; for example he helped to set up the telex service for USTC. He was very popular among the students. Fang also begin to write essays for publication in popular magazines, and give lectures on a variety of topics in universities, though usually not in USTC. Many such essays and lectures expressed his liberal view on politics, reflections on history, and criticisms on CCP dogma. He also emphasized social responsibility of intellectuals. In late 1986, Fang, together with Xu Liangying and Liu Binyan, wrote letters to a number of well-known "Rightists" from the 1957 Anti-Rightist campaign, suggesting a meeting in memory of that event.

In December 1986, college students demonstrated in over a dozen Chinese cities in demanding greater economic and political freedoms. Fang was against the student demonstration, believing it would be suppressed by the CCP; he tried to persuade the USTC students not to go off-campus. After two straight weeks of student demonstrations, believing that the student movement was a result of "bourgeois liberalization", Deng Xiaoping named three Communist Party members to be expelled: Fang, Liu Binyan and Wang Ruowang. Deng directed then-CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang to expel them from the Party, but Hu refused. Because of his refusal, Hu was dismissed from his position as General Secretary in January 1987, effectively ending his period of influence within the Chinese government.

Fang was again expelled from Communist Party of China in January 1987, and removed from his position as the vice president of the university. He was moved to Beijing as a research scientist at the Beijing Astronomical Observatory, now a part of the National Astronomical Observatory of China, and reunited with his wife, Li Shuxian, a professor at Peking University. He gained fame and notoriety after his essays were collected by the Communist Party of China and distributed to many of its regional offices, with the directive to its members to criticize the essays.