Zhang Lifan (, born July 1950), is a Chinese writer, scholar and historian.

Biography

Zhang's father,

Zhang Naiqi Zhang Naiqi (; 1897–1977) was a Chinese politician who served as Minister of Food between 1952 and 1957. He was one of the founders of the China Democratic National Construction Association. Biography Zhang was born in Qingtian County, Zhejia ...

(), was one of the founders of the China National Democratic Association, Zhang's mother is Zhang Caiping (). Zhang spent his childhood in his hometown of Beijing. He attended

High School attached to Tsinghua University Tsinghua University High School (), or Tsinghua High School for short (), is a high school in China, located in Beijing. Based on its current status, a more precise translation should be 'The secondary school affiliated to Tsinghua University'. In ...

(). In 1957, Zhang Naiqi,

Zhang Bojun Zhang Bojun (; November 17, 1895 – May 17, 1969) was a Chinese politician and intellectual, and was removed from his ministerial position in the late 1950s after being declared "China's number one rightist." Biography Zhang graduated from the ...

(),

Chu Anping Chu Anping (, 1909–1966?) was a Chinese scholar, liberal journalist and editor of ''Guancha'' (观察, The Observer) in the Civil War era of the late 1940s. He is widely considered to be one of the most famous liberals in China. He was Editor ...

() and

Luo Longji Luo Longji (; July 30, 1898 – December 7, 1965) was a Chinese politician and famous intellectual. Luo has been called the "China's number two rightist". He and Hu Shih collaborated to research and promote human rights in China, which made them o ...

() were picked out as right wingers. On 8 June 1957, Zhang Naiqi was removed from his posts and taken to be prosecuted. Zhang Lifan was punished because of his father. On 13 May 1977, Zhang Naiqi died of illness in a Beijing Hospital basement. After the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Zhang Lifan was educated in the Institute of Modern History of

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 ...

().

Views

Zhang Lifan is known as one of the most outspoken liberal-minded scholars in China and has often been critical of 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 ...

, which in 2013 lead to him being censored and removed from Chinese microblogging platform

Sina Weibo Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...

, where he had 300k followers. In an interview with ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'' on the arrest of young Marxists fighting for workers rights, Zhang said "I think this shows China's Communist Party can no longer justify itself". Zhang said further that young Marxists in China pose a conundrum for the country's leadership, whom he says only feign interest in Marxism to "maintain a guiding principle". In an interview with ''

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

'', Zhang said that the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

posed the greatest challenge in the Chinese Communist Party's 70-year history, after the

Great Chinese Famine The Great Chinese Famine () was a period between 1959 and 1961 in the history of the People's Republic of China (PRC) characterized by widespread famine. Some scholars have also included the years 1958 or 1962. It is widely regarded as the dead ...

during Mao Zedong era and the Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989. Zhang said that the Chinese government did an excellent job censoring details of the pandemic and is exploiting it to strengthen its control over society.

Book

* *

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zhang, Lifan 1950 births Living people People's Republic of China historians Historians from Beijing