Fang Lizhi, who inspired Chinese dissidents, dies

FANG Lizhi, one of China's best-known dissidents whose speeches inspired student protesters throughout the 1980s, has died in the United States, where he fled after China's 1989 military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. He was 76.

Once China's leading astrophysicist, Fang and his wife hid in the U.S. Embassy for 13 months after the crackdown. In exile, he was a physics professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Fang's wife, Li Shuxian, confirmed to The Associated Press in Beijing that Fang died Friday morning in Tucson.

Fang inspired a generation, said his friend and fellow U.S.-based exiled dissident Wang Dan, who announced the death on Facebook and Twitter.

"I hope the Chinese people will never forget that there was once a thinker like Fang Lizhi. He inspired the '89 generation, and awoke in the people their yearning for human rights and democracy," Wang wrote. "One day, China will be proud to once have had Fang Lizhi."

"Fang is my spiritual teacher, his death is a major blow to me. At this moment, my grief is beyond words," Wang wrote.

The son of a postal clerk in Hangzhou, Fang was admitted to Beijing University in 1952, at age 16, to study theoretical physics and nuclear physics. He became one of China's pioneer researchers in laser theory. (AP)