He Weifang (born July 17, 1960; ) is a former

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Peking University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and an activist striving to reform the Chinese judicial system, who has argued that the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

is an unregistered and therefore an illegal organization in China. He earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

Southwest University of Political Science & Law Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SWUPL) is a national public university located in Chongqing, China. It was founded in 1953 with the original name Southwest College of Political Science and Law. It was one of the first faculti ...

, and an

LL.M A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

at Peking College of Political Science and Law (former

China University of Political Science and Law China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 中国政法大学; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 中國政法大學; pinyin: ''Zhōngguó Zhèngfǎ Dàxué'', abbr. � ...

). He was an associate professor in

from 1985 to 1995, then become a professor and

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

adviser at

. Since 1992, he has striven to reform the Chinese judicial system. He has written many papers on the importance of modernizing China's judicial system, earning him the nickname "Justice He". His works includes ''The Judicial Ideals and Institutions'' and ''The Ways to Carry Justice''. Because of his public support and signing for

Liu Xiaobo Liu Xiaobo (; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end communist one-par ...

Charter 08 Charter 08 is a manifesto initially signed by 303 Chinese dissident intellectuals and human rights activists. It was published on 10 December 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopting its name and style from ...

, He Weifang's position at Peking University became untenable and he was forced to resign. In 2008, he accepted a job offer to be the dean of the law school of

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the na ...

. However, the

forced the school to withdraw the job offer, and He was instead given a position in the remote city of

Shihezi Shihezi is a sub-prefecture-level city in Northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. It has a population of 380,130 according to the 2010 census. The city is also home to Shihezi University, the second-largest comprehensive university under ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

.McGregor
p. 26."> p. 26.
/ref> Richard McGregor, author of ''The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers'', said that this was "a deliberately humiliating transfer, akin to a

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

professor being reassigned to a small

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

in rural

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

." On October 6, 2010, He Weifang gave a speech at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

, concerning reform of Chinese Court Organization Law and freedom of speech.Professor He Weifang, 贺卫方 (In Chinese)
/ref>

References

* McGregor, Richard. ''The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers''.

Harper Perennial Harper Perennial is a paperback imprint of the publishing house HarperCollins Publishers. Overview Harper Perennial has divisions located in New York, London, Toronto, and Sydney. The imprint is descended from the Perennial Library imprint foun ...

: New York, 2012. . Originally published in 2010 by

Allen Lane Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...

, a

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Judicial independence should come first

China Daily ''China Daily'' () is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any English-language newspaper in China. T ...

Beijing Review ''Beijing Review'' (), previously ''Peking Review'', is China's only national news magazine in English, published by the Chinese Communist Party-owned China International Publishing Group. In 2006 it claimed a per-issue circulation of 70,000 and ...

, November 15, 2005
Leading Chinese dissident claims freedom of speech worse than before OlympicsHe Weifang's bloga series of articles by He Weifang in Chinese, English and French
{{DEFAULTSORT:He, Weifang Chinese activists Chinese legal scholars Peking University faculty Zhejiang University faculty Charter 08 signatories Living people People from Yantai Chinese anti-communists Educators from Shandong China University of Political Science and Law faculty 1960 births