Harry Wu

Who they were

Biography Early life and education Wu was born into an affluent family in Shanghai ; his father was a banking official and his mother had descended from a family of well-to-do landlords . Wu studied at the Geology Institute in Beijing , where he earned a degree. In 1956, the Communist Party began a campaign encouraging citizens, particularly students and intellectuals, to express their true views of the Party and the state of society (known as the Hundred Flowers Campaign ). Although cautious,

Harry Wu was a Chinese-American human rights activist. Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, and he became a resident and citizen of the United States. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation.

Early life

Educated at: China University of Geosciences.

Path and career

Awards / honours: Geuzenpenning and Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

Recognition Wu received the Freedom Award from the Hungarian Freedom Fighters' Federation in 1991. In 1994 he received the first Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders . He was awarded the Courage of Conscience Award by the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts , on September 14, 1995 for his extraordinary sacrifices and commitment to exposing human rights violations in his motherland China. [ 1 ] He received an honorary doctorate from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC in 2012.

Death Wu died in Honduras on April 26, 2016, at the age of 79 while he was vacationing there with friends. He was survived by his former wife, Ching Lee, and his son, Harrison. [ 1 ] ^ "Harry Wu, Champion of Human Rights Dies" . laogai.org. Archived from the original on April 30, 2016.

Why this date

Harry Wu appears on our April 26 calendar for 2016 as a death entry.