page_title: Yang Jianli
section_title: Return to the USA
hierarchical_section_title: Yang Jianli / Return to the USA
caption_attribution_description: 中文（繁體）‎: 公民力量創辦人楊建利(美國之音張永泰拍攝)
context_page_description: Yang Jianli is a Chinese dissident with United States residency. He is the son of a Communist Party leader. Detained in China in 2002, he was released in 2007. He now lives in the United States, where he is a human rights activist.
context_section_description: On April 27, 2007, Yang was released from Chinese prison, but was not allowed to leave China. Later, on August 19, he was finally allowed to return to the United States.
  Reminded of his experience with the June 4, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 for freedom of speech and democracy, Yang's recent article in the Washington Post shortly after his return to United States reflects his vivid observation of the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests, spiritually coined as Saffron Revolution, including China's 'parasitic relationship with Burma' and the genuine will of freedom loving intellectuals around the world condemning the current brutal oppressions in Burma.
  In March 2016, together with Fang Zheng and Zhou Fengsuo, Yang published an op-ed in the Washington Post protesting Donald Trump's characterization of the Tiananmen Square Massacre as the act of a "strong, powerful government".
  He has been a guest speaker at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy on several occasions, and is founder of the NGO, Initiatives for China, a US-based organisation dedicated to working for a peaceful transition to democracy in China. He also established the Foundation for China in the 21st Century.
  During 2016, he has organised an Interfaith Conference of China's ethnic and religious minorities in Dharamshala, India, which is home to the Dalai Lama's residence and the headquarters of Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile). The conference has brought together representatives of the Uyghurs, Mongolians, Christians, Falun Gong; and the people of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
  In June 2016, Yang organised an event in Washington D.C. to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in China. Its technical systems were hacked, so that some participants in other countries could not fully communicate.
  In March 2018, Yang was invited to speak by advocacy group UN Watch in the UN Human Rights Council but Chinese diplomat Chen Cheng repeatedly interrupted in a failed attempt to halt the address. There, questioned the Chinese Communist Party's right to represent China at the UN body as well as the country's human rights abuses.
caption: Yang Jianli on 23 November 2013
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