'I respect even my guards'
Activist jailed for 5 years in China returns with hope, not anger
Locked in Chinese prisons for five years, Yang Jianli endured physical and psychological torture. Cut off, at times, from all human contact, he fell into despair. He was consumed with worry when his jailers hinted -- falsely -- that his wife and young son had been taken into custody.
On Saturday, the Chinese activist and Harvard graduate returned home at last to Brookline. His wife, Christina Fu, a Harvard researcher, and his son, now 12, greeted him at Logan Airport. The couple also has a 15-year-old daughter, who was traveling in China and saw her father after his release from prison.
Yesterday, in his first public comments since his release from prison four months ago, Yang, 44, said he left China more hopeful than ever about the country's future, and without bitterness toward the people who jailed him.
His case over the years captured widespread attention as his wife lobbied to the highest levels of US government on his behalf, with help from dozens of Harvard faculty members. Members from both houses of Congress also called for Yang's release and urged President Bush to raise the issue with the Chinese president.
Yang, the co-founder of the Foundation for China in the 21st Century, a pro-democracy group based in Boston, was imprisoned in China in 2002 after he used a friend's passport to enter the country illegally so he could report on unfolding labor unrest.
"The only enemy is the autocratic system -- I have no personal enemy," he said in an interview with the Globe. "I respect even my guards, my interrogators, my prosecutors as human beings. What they do is understandable -- not acceptable, but understandable. Being a dissident in China, it's very difficult to avoid being imprisoned, harassed."
Richard Zeckhauser, a Kennedy School professor who was an academic adviser to Yang and helped lobby for his release, said he was thrilled to hear a message from Yang on his office voicemail yesterday.
"This guy has gone through a lot, but he sounded exactly like he did six years ago . . .. He'll storm back and be a whirlwind, again," Zeckhauser said.
"I just hope China changes in such a way that it can capitalize on his talents," he added. "I'm very happy to have him here in the US, but he could be such a positive force in a country with so much potential, that makes so many mistakes."
A call seeking comment from the press office at the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., was not returned yesterday.
A Chinese citizen with permanent resident status in the US, Yang first came to the United States to attend college in 1986. He earned a doctorate degree in math from the University of California at Berkeley, but remained active in pro-democracy efforts in China, where he supported student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. After he testified before Congress about the use of violence by military troops, the Chinese government seized his passport.
Yang earned a second doctorate degree, in political economy, from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in 2001. But in April 2002, determined to learn more about workers' strikes under way, he returned to China on his friend's passport. He was arrested and convicted of illegally entering the country and spying, and sentenced to five years in prison, a punishment the Chinese refused to overturn despite pleas from his wife and others.
For Yang, hope seemed distant in the harsh, early period of his imprisonment when he knew nothing of efforts to free him, when his jailers used torture to subdue him, and his own fears and regrets threatened to overwhelm him, he said.
Yang said his torture included a beating, being handcuffed continuously for two weeks, and being forced to sit straight on a bench for four hours daily for more than a year. He also was prohibited from going outside for fresh air during several stretches, one as long as eight months.
"When I first got to jail, it was one of the most difficult times, because I was cut off from communication, and I had so many worries, thinking of my family, and my parents in bad health; my work; everything," he said in his Globe interview. "I know at points I said, 'Oh, why, why, I took this trip to China,' but that was a very short time."
He said he ultimately affirmed that the sacrifice was worth it.
His ordeal became easier after he was transferred to another prison in Beijing, where he was able to have books and writing materials, and greater freedom to interact with guards and other inmates. To pass the time, he wrote poems and book manuscripts. Yang also taught courses at the jail in English, economics, calligraphy, and logic, and coached a prison basketball team for three seasons, he said. He said he made many close friends among inmates and employees at that prison, where he spent two and a half years.
"When I left, many inmates stood behind the bars and waved to me with tears in their eyes as I walked to the gate," he said. "I couldn't help shedding some tears also."
Twice during his imprisonment, he was allowed to visit with family members.
After his release from jail in April, Yang traveled around China for four months as he waited for documents he needed to leave the country.
His wife, Fu, a health care policy researcher at Harvard Medical School, said she is looking forward to spending time with her husband.
"I feel like my husband hasn't changed at all," she said.
She said her children are proud of their father: "My son always says, 'Is Daddy a freedom fighter?', and I say, 'Yes.' "
Material from the Associated Press was included in this report. Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com 