When the leaders of the June 4 democracy movement fled to the west, the hope was that they could continue the fight for democracy.
But over the years, the hundreds of student activists who remain abroad have drifted onto different paths. Some maintain their passion for democracy, while others have settled into less-political lives. Many are studying at Ivy League campuses in the US or have ventured into business.
Those who remain active in politics have had their differences, with squabbling between factions which support different political ideals.
Xu Wenli, , 60, who founded the Democracy Wall movement in Beijing in 1978, was jailed twice for forming an opposition party. He fled to the US in December 2002 and has been teaching as the senior visiting fellow of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, Rhode Island, since January.
He said overseas dissidents faced difficulties just surviving in a foreign land, let alone maintaining their advocacy work. 'First of all, the physical barrier between them and their home country makes them lose touch with the rapid changes taking place in China. Secondly, survival in a foreign country is no easy matter. There's no free lunch even in your adopted country, no matter how much freedom it offers you. You still have to struggle and work hard to earn a crust.'
Mr Xu said living on Rhode Island, far from the large US cities which have become the focal points of China's overseas democracy movement, meant he could not respond quickly to overseas events or organise large-scale meetings as others could do.
Instead, he tries to carry out advocacy work on an educational level. He teaches the history of the Democracy Wall and the China Democratic Party and set up a non-profit organisation, the Caring for China Centre, last year. The group runs the Chinese Prisoners of Conscience Relief Centre and the Constitutional Research Centre to support families of political prisoners.