Wei Jingsheng

Wei is a Chinese human rights activist known for his involvement in the Chinese democracy movement. The oldest of four children, brought up by Chinese Communist Party cadres. In 1966, Wei joined the Red Guards as a 16 year-old student during the Cultural Revolution.He lived in remote rural areas in Northern China and was able to speak with peasant farmers about the widespread famines that had occurred a few years before, during the Great Leap Forward. He uncovered the role that the communist government under Mao Zedong played in causing the famines, and it forced Wei to start questioning the nature of the system he lived under.
Wei would later write about this period: “I felt as if I had suddenly awakened from a long dream, but everyone around me was still plunged in darkness.
Diagnosed with diabetes Wei Jingsheng has been celebrated for his human rights efforts, winning the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Human Rights Award, and the National Endowment for Democracy Award and he has been nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize since 1993. Wei has been given the title of “Father of Chinese Democracy” and the “Nelson Mandela of China” by his supporters due largely to his role in founding the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition in 1998.