Chinese Civil Rights Activist: Chen Guangcheng | Giant Leaps Series
Channel: Purdue University
Date: 2019-11-01

The College of Engineering and Professor Fenggang Yang, of the Sociology Department, College of Liberal Arts, hosted “The Barefoot Lawyer” lecture featuring Chinese civil rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Chen addresses the audience in Mandarin Chinese, reading from a Braille tablet with his assistant translating his talk into English.

Blind since infancy due to a fever that destroyed his optical nerves, Chen was raised in a poor village and was not allowed to attend school until the age of 18. He later enrolled in Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, studying acupuncture and massage – the only courses available to blind students. While there, he audited legal classes and became a self-taught lawyer, dedicating himself as an advocate for the poor, disabled, and persecuted.

Chen’s memoir, The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man’s Fight for Justice and Freedom in China, was released in 2015 and has been translated into eight languages.