Chinese dissident from East Windsor dies at 80

Liu Binyan was known for his critical reports on conditions in China

By: Marisa Maldonado
   EAST WINDSOR — Liu Binyan, known by some as the conscience of China for his critical reports on conditions in his native country, died of complications from colon cancer Monday. The township resident was 80.
   His criticism of Chinese politics, which he practiced by writing for several publications in China and through Radio Free Asia in Washington, D.C., was influenced by his devotion to his native country, a colleague at Radio Free Asia said Thursday.
   "I always thought as much as he loved his wife, his first love was China," said Jennifer Chou, director of Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service. "He felt he had to be a spokesman for the common people."
   Mr. Liu first came to the United States in 1989, after officials at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation invited him to serve as a fellow. The Chinese government forbade him to return home after he criticized the killing of several hundred protesters by the military that year at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
   In 1996, Mr. Liu became a commentator for Radio Free Asia, a news service that reports on Chinese affairs not covered in the country’s media. He phoned in weekly reports on Chinese affairs, including a report on the migration of 90 million peasant workers from city to city in China.
   "He was one of the first people who brought media attention to the problem," Ms. Chou said. "Every day when we look at a story, he’s the one who set an example for us on how to do investigative reporting, always trying to dig deeper and deeper to get to the root of a problem."
   Mr. Liu joined the Communist Party in the late 1940s. But he and several other reporters, despite harboring a love of socialism, quickly became disillusioned with the Communist Party’s practices.
   "They began to report, truthfully, about the behavior and the party leaders," said Bob Giles, curator of the Nieman Foundation. "After a while, the party decided they couldn’t tolerate this."
   His critical reports came at a personal price. Mr. Liu spent several years between the 1950s and 1970s in labor camps.
   The Chinese government never allowed Mr. Liu to return home, despite pleas from himself and his friends at the Nieman Foundation. His last wish — to fly kites with his two grandchildren in Tiananmen Square — remained unfulfilled, Mr. Giles said.
   The government’s refusal to respond to his requests, Ms. Chou said, hurt Mr. Liu even more than not being able to return to his country.
   "The Chinese have a saying, ‘The fallen leaf must return to his roots,’" Ms. Chou said. "That fact that he couldn’t die on his native soil … that was his most dear wish, to die in China."
   Mr. Liu’s wife, Zhu Hong, hopes to return her husband’s ashes to China, Ms. Chou said. [vmo: could be cut, if need be: ]She plans to apply for a Chinese visa after finalizing affairs in the United States, according to Ms. Chou.
   [vmo: could be cut: ]In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Ms. Zhu said her husband died peacefully. The husband and wife, who had been married 54 years, had become a part of each other, Ms. Zhu said in the interview.
   "We were like air and water to each other," she said. "It’s unimaginable that either of us could exist without the other."
  &nbspShe said her husband had asked that any memorial dedicated to him include the words "Here lies a Chinese who said what had to be said, and did what had to be done."
  &nbspDespite his criticism of Chinese politics, Mr. Liu remained hopeful that a new generation could continue working toward the goals he believed in. In a 1999 interview with Human Rights Magazine he said Chinese citizens should work to improve the rights of peasants and workers in the country.
   [vmo: could be cut: ]While many of his Chinese colleagues were not affected by the deaths at Tiananmen Square, Mr. Lui saw hope in a younger generation of Chinese activists.
   [vmo: could be cut: ]"Apathy toward politics is fairly widespread," Mr. Liu said in the interview. "But now we see a new force emerging among the young intellectuals who are much more highly critical and have a much more penetrating understanding of the society. In them I see hope for China."
   Even though the Chinese government has not acknowledged Mr. Liu’s death — a Chinese official declined to comment on it Tuesday, according to a published report — calls to Radio Free Asia have poured in since Monday, Ms. Chou said. One came from a younger activist, a 30-year-old man from southeastern China. His acknowledgement of Mr. Liu’s death is an example of the legacy that Mr. Liu will leave in China, Ms. Chou said.
   "When (he) was growing up, Liu Binyan’s name never showed up," she said. "They knew enough about him that they would call into the show to express their sadness."
   In addition to his wife and grandchildren, Mr. Liu is survived by a son, Dahong, and a daughter, Xiaoyan, both in China. His funeral and cremation this weekend will be private, but a public memorial service will be held next week, Ms. Chou said.