{"id":642,"date":"2014-05-22T04:31:22","date_gmt":"2014-05-22T04:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=642"},"modified":"2014-05-22T04:31:22","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T04:31:22","slug":"a-child-of-tiananmen-young-activist-campaigns-for-her-fathers-release-from-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/a-child-of-tiananmen-young-activist-campaigns-for-her-fathers-release-from-jail","title":{"rendered":"A child of Tiananmen \u2013 young activist campaigns for her father\u2019s release from jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 May 2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\"192792_Ti-Anna_Wang_and_her_father_Wang_Bingzhang-1.\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ti-Anna’s father, Wang Bingzhang, who is currently in prison in China, named her after Tiananmen Square.Ti-Anna’s father, Wang Bingzhang, who is currently in prison in China, named her after Tiananmen Square.\u00a9 Ti-Anna Wang.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"192793_Ti-Anna_Wang\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ti-Anna has been campaigning for her father’s release from prison in China.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Ti-Anna Wang.
\n\u201c
\nI really thought that maybe it was just a mistake, that they had the wrong person and that it wouldn\u2019t be long before this blows over and that everything would be fine. I never thought it would drag on for over 10 years.
\n\u201d
\nTi-Anna Wang.<\/p>\n

\u201c
\nThe last thing you want is for him to be forgotten together with the other thousands of political prisoners in China. With international attention at least hopefully he\u2019ll be safe. I feel doing something is better than doing nothing at all.
\n\u201d
\nTi-Anna Wang.<\/p>\n

The tragic events of the 1989 demonstrations in Beijing hold special resonance for Ti-Anna Wang. Born the same year, she was named after the Tiananmen Square protests. Her father was an ardent pro-democracy campaigner living in exile in Montreal, Canada since the early 1980s.<\/p>\n

Discussing politics and human rights was familiar for Ti-Anna. Her father, Wang Bingzhang, travelled the world advocating for human rights in China. And while the family lived secure in the knowledge that they were safe in Montreal, they did not realize how far the tentacles of the Chinese security services could reach.<\/p>\n

In 2002, when she was only 13, Ti-Anna\u2019s mother sat her and her two older brothers in the living room of their flat and broke the news that their father wasn\u2019t coming home.<\/p>\n

Wang Bingzhang had been on a trip to Viet Nam. Following a meeting with fellow activists, he was abducted by two men and smuggled across the border to China.
\n\u201cAt the time, I didn\u2019t understand the severity of the situation. I thought it had been a big misunderstanding, that it would be just a matter of time before justice prevailed,\u201d Ti-Anna said.<\/p>\n

After being held for six months in incommunicado detention, Wang Bingzhang was charged with espionage and terrorism. The trial lasted one day and he was sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

More than a decade later, Ti-Anna\u2019s father is still languishing in a Chinese jail.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really thought that maybe it was just a mistake, that they had the wrong person and that it wouldn\u2019t be long before this blows over and that everything would be fine. I never thought it would drag on for over 10 years,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

As the years passed and the prospect of not seeing her father free again started to sink in, Ti-Anna decided to take matters into her own hands.<\/p>\n

She first approached others who, like her, had their parents unfairly imprisoned in China. A pattern of abuse began to emerge: persecution of human rights activists, trumped up charges and unfair trials: the abuses that had taken place in Tiananmen many years before were not a thing of the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always felt that if I can\u2019t get him released the second best thing would be for him to know that his sacrifice had not been in vain. I feel it is my responsibility to keep sharing his story because in a sense I\u2019m privileged to be able to do this,\u201d the activist said.<\/p>\n

Since his abduction in 2002, Ti-Anna has only been able to see her father in Shaoguan prison in a city near Hong Kong on three occasions. Separated by a glass wall \u2013 each meeting took place in rooms closely monitored by prison guards and lasted just 30 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last ten years have really taken a huge toll on his psychological wellbeing. He is kept in solitary confinement most of the time and he has very limited interaction with others. He is very fragile,\u201d Ti-Anna explained.<\/p>\n

And as if the meetings were not tough enough, even arranging a visit proves an immense challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole thing is very draining. Everything is very rushed because the prison guards give you specific dates when you can visit and usually by the time they tell you there isn\u2019t much time to get ready. You have to apply for your visa, book your tickets, it\u2019s all very rushed. Then you are there for a couple of days and you come back. But the most difficult part is leaving, because I know I\u2019m going back home to my house in Montreal, but at the same time I\u2019m leaving my father behind,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When Ti-Anna turned 19, she moved to Washington for a year to lobby congress members to put pressure on the Chinese authorities to review her father\u2019s case.
\nBut then, events took a turn for the worst. In what she believes is punishment for her outspoken activism in the USA, the limited visits came to a halt.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s been really difficult because sometimes you ask yourself whether you are making things worse, it feels like the situation might be regressing and not progressing,\u201d Ti-Anna said.<\/p>\n

But despite all the hurdles over the years, Ti-Anna draws inspiration from her father and the activists who once stood defiant in Tiananmen. She refuses to lose hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing you want is for him to be forgotten together with the other thousands of political prisoners in China. With international attention at least hopefully he\u2019ll be safe. I feel doing something is better than doing nothing at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From\u00a0http:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/news\/child-tiananmen-young-activist-campaigns-her-father-s-release-jail-2014-05-20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 May 2014 Ti-Anna’s father, Wang … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,95],"tags":[94,183,101,182],"views":3819,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":646,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions\/646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}