About the Founder
Xu Wenli: Biographical Notes
- July 9, 1943: Born in Jiangxi Province to a family from Anqing in Anhui Province. His father, Xu Yuwen was a general in the War of Resistance against Japan (He was a military doctor who ran the hospital in the rear of the front lines.)
- 1978-1981: Participant and founder of the Democracy Wall movement.
- November 26, 1978: Founded the April 5th Forum and served as its director until 1980.
- June 10-12, 1980: Discussed forming an opposition party with Sun Weipeng and Wang Xizhe at the Beijing Ganjiakou Conference.
- November 15, 1980: Suggested the “Geng Shen 1980 Transformation Proposal” to completely reform Chinese society.
- April 9, 1981: Arrested by the Chinese government and, in 1982, sentenced to fifteen years in prison with revocation of all political rights for 4 years.
- May 26, 1993: Released on parole, after which Xu spent time traveling, planning and organizing the formation of a Chinese opposition party.
- November 29, 1997: Submitted a formal proposition to “…end the single party system, establish the Third Republic, establish constitutional democracy, and protect freedom and human rights.”, and established a Chinese political opposition party with Qing Yongmin and dissidents from the entire nation.
- November 9, 1998: Established the Chinese Democratic Party with Jia Jianguo, Gao Hongming, He Depu, and Liu Shizun, and on November 30 was arrested and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment, with a revocation of political rights for 3 years.
- December 24, 2002: Exiled to the United States, and has since been working as a visiting scholar at the Watson Institute of International Studies at Brown University.
- May 26, 2003: Awarded an honorary doctorate degree by Brown University.
- March 26, 2003: Founded the Caring for China Center (CCC; formerly the CHC) and is currently the chairman.
- January 28, 2004: Began work as a professor at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, teaching a seminar on the history of the Democracy Wall and the Chinese Democratic Party.
- December 3, 2004: Founded the Chinese Democratic Party Overseas Exile Headquarters, and is currently the general convener of the Headquarters.
- February 23, 2005: As convener of the Democratic Party Overseas Exile Headquarters, in concert with the Chinese Party for Liberty and Democracy, the Chinese Labor Party, and the Chinese Social Democratic Party, in contact with the Chinese Democracy League and Chinese Democratic Alliance, founded the Chinese Democratic Party Coalition, and serves as its co-chair.
- March 9, 2005: Reiterated his political program: “To abandon one-party dictatorship, lay aside the issue of Taiwanese independence, restore a democratic China, and build an equal and prosperous federation between the PRC and Taiwan.”
- May 15, 2006: Proposed Direction and Timeline by the Chinese Democratic Party Overseas Exile Headquarter to the Chinese Government Regarding the Implementation of Political Reform in the People’s Republic of China.
- On June 6, 2007: Elected as the Chairman of the China Democracy Party United Headquarters (Overseas) during the First Party Congress of the China Democracy Party United Headquarters (Overseas)