No Country for Justice: A Dialogue with China’s Leading Human Rights Lawyer in Exile

September 20, 2017

Vermont Commons Chinese teacher Ben Wang is offering to provide transportation from VCS to St. Michael’s College to those interested in participating in a dialogue with Dr. Teng Biao on Wednesday, September 27th at 5pm. Below is a quick introduction to Dr. Biao’s work:

Dr. Teng Biao is currently a visiting scholar at NYU Law School. Before NYU, Dr. Teng had been a visiting scholar at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was named one of the “Persons of the Year in Asia” by Newsweek in 2005. The New York Review of Books calls him “one of China’s best-known civil rights lawyers.” A leader of China’s New Citizens Movement and founder of Open Constitution Initiative, he was banned from teaching in his own university — the University of Politics and Law in Beijing — because of his activism. Before he started his life in exile, he had served as a defense lawyer for many years on high-profile human rights cases in China. In consequence, he was kidnapped and tortured by the authorities. Dr. Teng’s research focuses on criminal justice, human rights, social movements, and democratic transition in China. He has testified at the United States Congressional Hearings and is a frequently sought-after commentator on major international news outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian. He is a recipient of various international human rights awards including Human Rights Prize of the French Republic (2007).

Please contact Ben at bwang@vermontcommons.org if you are interested in attending!