Tiananmen Square protests veteran Chen Ziming dies in Beijing

Chen Ziming, the veteran pro-democracy activist and one of the leading figures in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, has died, a close friend said.

Chen died at his home after suffering from cancer, fellow Tiananmen protest leader Wang Dan said. Chen was 62.

He was sentenced to 13 years in jail for his part in the Tiananmen protests.

“Chen Ziming, a famous dissident, the so-called black hand of June 4, my good teacher and helpful friend, died at 2.15pm [yesterday] in Beijing after the failure of his fight against cancer,” Wang wrote on his Facebook page.

“Chen Ziming was one of China’s most outstanding intellectuals who contributed to China’s democracy movement over the past 40 years,” Wang later told the South China Morning Post.

Chen was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and went to Boston in the United States for treatment earlier this year. He spoke frequently to the Post.

Chen was born in Shanghai and graduated from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology. He later studied at the graduate school of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1984.

He had been a pro-democracy activist since the April Fifth Movement in 1976, taking part in a series of protests including the Xidan Democracy Wall Movement in 1979 and the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989. Chen was sentenced in 1991 to 13 years in prison for “counterrevolutionary” activities.

Watch: Chen Ziming interviewed for the SCMP's extensive look back at the events of 1989 and their legacy, released earlier this year:  

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“If he had been in a normal society, he would have made very outstanding contributions in either academia, business or science and technology. He would have won a Nobel prize,” fellow activist, Dai Qing said.

“But unfortunately he was born in China. He suffered a lot, but was brave and wise. He was after neither fame nor fortune. He was sincere towards society.”

He was released from jail on medical parole in 1994 as Beijing was eager to secure the renewal of China’s most-favoured-nation trading status with the United States.

He was imprisoned again the following year after he signed a petition calling for the release of political prisoners.

Released again in 1996 on medical parole, Chen was only formally released from house arrest in 2002.

Before the Tiananmen protests, Chen and another leading intellectual, Wang Juntao, ran a think tank, the Beijing Social and Economic Sciences Research Institute.

Chen was also the editor of the Economics Weekly, a journal that advocated a free-market economy.

“He was a private scholar. None of his books could be published in his motherland. But he stayed on [in China]. Even after he became ill, he returned to Beijing to die,” Dai Qing, the activist, said.

Chen is survived by his wife, Wang Zhihong.

Additional reporting by Reuters