Mark Wang () is a Chinese disabled rights advocate, known through television series in Norway and China and through the biographical musical

Some Sunny Night Some may refer to: *''some'', an English word used as a determiner and pronoun; see use of ''some'' *The term associated with the existential quantifier *"Some", a song by Built to Spill from their 1994 album ''There's Nothing Wrong with Love'' *S ...

written by Norwegian composer Thomas Stanghelle.

Biography

Mark Wang was a passenger aboard

China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 China Northwest Airlines Flight 2119 (WH2119) was a flight from Yinchuan Xihuayuan Airport, Ningxia to Beijing Capital International Airport, People's Republic of China. On July 23, 1993, the aircraft crashed into a lake after it was unable to g ...

from

Yinchuan Yinchuan (, ; ) is the capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 Chinese census, and its built- ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

on July 23, 1993. His spinal column was severely injured when the aircraft failed to get airborne and crashed into a lake. As a result, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Because of his injuries he was moved to Beijing Rehabilitation and Research Center (BRRC) in September 1993. At the time, BRRC and Sunnaas Hospital in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

had established a cooperation program, and a tour of BRRC's facilities in Beijing was included in

Queen Sonja of Norway Sonja (born Sonja Haraldsen on 4 July 1937) is Queen of Norway since 17 January 1991 as the wife of King Harald V. Sonja and the then Crown Prince Harald had dated for nine years prior to their marriage in 1968. They had kept their relations ...

's royal visit to China. As a patron of Red Cross Nordic United World College (RCNUWC), Queen Sonja donated a scholarship to BRRC which was subsequently awarded to Mark Wang. While a student at

Red Cross Nordic United World College The school UWC Red Cross Nordic ( Norwegian: UWC Røde Kors Nordisk), formerly known as Red Cross Nordic United World College, was founded in 1995, located in Norway. It is the ninth member of the today 18 United World Colleges, others having been ...

, Mark Wang befriended the Norwegian marathon runner and disabled rights activist Ketil Moe. Through collaborative efforts, they were able to establish the Beijing Marathon for the Disabled in 1998. While at the

United World College United World Colleges (UWC) is an international network of schools and educational programmes with the shared aim of "making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future." The organization was founde ...

, Mark Wang also wrote an autobiography given the English title Hold Up The Blue Sky of Life (). This autobiography became a best-seller in China, and became the basis of an 18-installment

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

produced TV-series about his life. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Mark Wang was selected as a carrier in the Olympic torch relay. In 2008, he became a member of the UWC International Council, two years later founding the UWC National Committee of China, later becoming its chair. In 2015, he founded UWC Changshu China.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Mark 1981 births Living people People from Yinchuan Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents People educated at a United World College