Dr. Yang Jianli is a scholar and democracy activist internationally recognized for his efforts to promote democracy in China. He has been involved in the Chinese democracy movement since the 1980s. He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen protests and fled to the U.S. following the massacre. Despite having been “blacklisted,” Dr. Yang returned to China to support the labor movement in 2002 and was detained by the Chinese regime. In 2004, Dr. Yang was sentenced to five years in prison for espionage and illegal entry, most of which was spent in solitary confinement. Following an international outcry for his release, including a UN Resolution and a unanimous vote of both houses of the U.S. Congress, Dr. Yang was freed in April of 2007 and returned o the U.S, where he continues his activism.