Liao Xiaoyi (), or Sheri Liao, is a Chinese

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

whose works are credited with advancing the Chinese

environmental movement The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists a ...

Life and work

After graduating from

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

in 1986, Liao taught philosophy as a researcher at the

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a Chinese research institute and think tank. The institution is the premier comprehensive national academic research organization in the People's Republic of China for the study in the fields of ...

, where she first gained an interest in environmental philosophy. She began to read environmentalist works and film documentaries on China's ecological plight that appeared on

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...

. She then served as a visiting scholar at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

, where she claims to have first discovered the role that civil society can play in environmentalism. She returned to China in 1996 and founded the non-government organization Global Village of Beijing. Her idea is to promote "a life of harmony" through reduced consumption and decreased use of harmful practices in daily lives. She served as an environmental adviser on the Beijing Organizing Committee for the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. Through her role as president of Global Village of Beijing, she has produced models for green neighborhood complexes, rural communities, and organized many public awareness campaigns regarding pollution, recycling and reducing consumption.

Awards and honors

* 2009: Featured as "Hero of the Environment" by ''

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine, USA * 2008: the Third Annual Happy "Town Provisions" Person of the Year by CCTV * 2008: Most influential Charity Project Award by

Ministry of Civil Affairs The Ministry of Civil Affairs is a ministry in the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for social and administrative affairs. It was founded in May 1978, and the current Minister is Tang Dengjie. Its precedent was the Mini ...

* 2008: the 30 Years of Reform and Opening Up award by

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...

* 2008: Individual Contribution Award issued by National Commission for Development and Reform * 2008: Global Citizen Award by

Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was es ...

, USA * 2007: Ecological person of the year award by a joint committee of six Ministries led by

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

* 2006: Green Person of the year award for environmental achievement by Joint committee of seven Ministries led by

Ministry of Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment ...

* 2005: Person of the year award for economic public charity. CCTV * 2002: Ten Outstanding Women in China by the magazine Chinese Women * 2001:

Banksias Award ''Banksia'' is a genus of around 170 species in the plant family Proteaceae. These Australian wildflowers and popular garden plants are easily recognised by their characteristic flower spikes, and fruiting "cones" and heads. ''Banksias'' range i ...

, Australia * 2000:

Sophie Prize The Sophie Prize was an international environment and development prize (USD 100,000) awarded annually from 1998 to 2013. It was established in 1997 by the Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder and his wife Siri Dannevig, and is named after Gaarder's no ...

, Norway Sheri Liao's Biography at Global Village of Beijing
Retrieved December 12, 2009

Notes

External links

Sheri Liao, Philosopher
- ''Time'' magazine article, from ''Heroes of the Environment'', By Jessie Jiang/ Beijing, Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2009
Global Village of Beijing
- The official website of Liao Xiaoyi's environmental NGO {{DEFAULTSORT:Liao, Xiaoyi People's Republic of China philosophers Chinese tai chi practitioners Chinese activists Chinese women activists Educators from Chongqing Chinese film producers Chinese sociologists Chinese women in politics Living people 1954 births People's Republic of China journalists Writers from Chongqing Scientists from Chongqing Philosophers from Chongqing

Life and work

Awards and honors

See also

Notes

External links