26 Facts About Chai Ling

Chai Ling is a Chinese psychologist who was one of the student leaders in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Chai Ling is the founder of All Girls Allowed, an organization dedicated to ending China's one-child policy, and the founder and president of Jenzabar, an enterprise resource planning software firm for educational institutions.

In 1983, Chai Ling began her education at Peking University where she eventually earned a BA in psychology.

Chai Ling met her future husband, Feng Congde, in January 1987.

Chai Ling became aware of Feng after his arrest on January 1,1987 for his participation in a democracy demonstration, and met him a few days later on her way to the university library.

Chai Ling first became involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests through her work as a secretary for the Peking University Preparatory Committee, which had elected Chai Ling's husband Feng into a leadership position.

Chai Ling rose to prominence as a student leader as a result of her involvement in the student hunger strike.

Chai Ling has stated that the idea for the hunger strike was given to her by Zhang Boli, another Beijing University student, but has claimed that a member of the national security force informed her that a hunger strike would elicit a reaction from the government.

Chai Ling agreed to join as well, and that evening delivered a speech to the demonstrators that generated a large amount of support for the hunger strike movement, and enabled Chai Ling to gather support from the student demonstrators and endorsement from the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation.

Two days later, Chai Ling was elected to serve as commander in chief of the Hunger Strike Committee, one of several student demonstration organizations in Tiananmen Square.

Chai Ling claimed that the meeting had been part of plot to remove the students from the square and defended her change of opinion by stating that she had been pressured into voting to leave.

Chai Ling was highly critical of the Beijing Students' Autonomous Union.

Chai Ling was an adamant supporter of the purity of the student movement and resisted both the participation of non-student protesters, and involvement in the political struggle between government reformers and hardliners.

Unlike more moderate leaders within the movement, Chai Ling seemed willing to allow for the movement to end in a violent confrontation.

Chai Ling has since claimed that these remarks were taken out of context and selectively edited.

Chai Ling has stated that the expectation of violent crackdown was something she had heard from Li Lu and not an idea of her own.

Chai Ling was not alone in reporting seeing a massacre in the square.

Chai Ling's name was fourth on the list, behind Wang Dan, Wu'er Kaixi and Liu Gang.

At the University of Hong Kong, Feng and Chai Ling were put in contact with an underground rescue network that orchestrated their escape to France.

Chai Ling has been President since founding Jenzabar and Chief Operating Officer since 2001.

In June 2010, Chai Ling started a nonprofit called "All Girls Allowed" with the aim of stopping the human rights violations related to the One-Child Policy.

Chai Ling has been called to testify before the United States Congress 8 times, most recently on June 3,2013.

Chai Ling's testimony has mainly related to Human Rights Issues in China.

An initial suit, in which Chai Ling alleged defamation, was summarily dismissed.

Chai Ling's lawsuits were subsequently criticized by some commentators, including columnists for the Boston Globe and the New Yorker.

Zhang had established her own nonprofit, Women's Rights in China, when she joined forces with Chai Ling to develop programs to prevent forced abortions in China.