Xiong Yan (dissident)

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Xiong Yan
Xiong image taken by Voice of America
Native name
熊焱
Born (1964-09-01) 1 September 1964 (age 59)
China Shuangfeng, People's Republic of China[1]
Allegiance  United States
Service/branch  United States Army
Years of service 1994[2]–1996[3]
1996–2003 Army Reserves
2003[4]–present
Rank US-O4 insignia.svg Major[5][6]
Unit Fort Bliss
Warrant Officer Career College, Fort Rucker
1st Cavalry Division
Battles/wars Operation Iraqi Freedom
Alma mater Beijing University
Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Other work Student protest leader

Xiong Yan (Chinese: 熊焱) is a China-born naturalized American. He was a dissident involved in Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[7] Xiong Yan studied at Beijing University Law School from 1986–1989. He came to the United States of America as a political refugee in 1992, and later became a chaplain in U.S. Army, serving in Iraq.[4][8] Xiong Yan is the author of three books, and has earned six degrees.[5]

Dissident

Growing up in Hunan, he moved to Beijing to pursue graduate level studies in law at Beijing University.[9] He was a probationary member of the Chinese Communist Party.[10] While at Beijing University, he was a member of Caodi Salon, which Liu Gang had organized.[11]

Yan was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.[9] At one point, he called himself "general commander".[12] After the crackdown at Tiananmen Square, he was placed on China's "most wanted" list.[13][14] Captured in late June 1989 at Datong,[13] he was returned to Beijing under armed guard of hundreds of soldiers.[15] Afterwards, he was detained for 19 months at Qincheng Prison without being charged with a crime.[5][8]

After his release, Yan's academic credentials were stripped from him, and he was unable to obtain identification.[2][9] During this period he converted to Christianity having met a member of a underground church.[16] He fled mainland China in May 1992.[9] After being granted political asylum he moved to the United States in June 1992, initially moving to the Los Angeles area.[17] He remains a fugitive of mainland China.[18]

After leaving China

Moving to Boston, he studied English at Harvard University and was accepted into its divinity school but declined its admission.[19] He later attended Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary;[10] eventually he earned a doctorate from the same seminary.[19] In 2005 in The Epoch Times, he announced that he had withdrawn his membership of the Chinese Communist Party.[20] He is still active in the overseas China democracy movement.[21] In 2009, he made a trip to Hong Kong to attend a candlelight vigil on the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown.[22] It was estimated that 150 thousand people attended the vigil.[23] This was the first time for him, within a 17-year time span, to return to China since 1992.[18] In 2010, Chai Ling and he were panel members at a discussion on China's One-child policy held at Rayburn House Office Building.[24] In 2015, after receiving word that his mother's health was failing, Yan appealed to mainland China to be allowed to return to see her before she dies.[25]

Military service

Yan went on to join the United States Army.[2] By 1999, he was a sergeant in the Army Reserves, and working on his second bachelor's degree, studying at the University of North Carolina.[26] Serving eight years in the Army Reserves, he was commissioned as an officer in 2003.[4] He serves as a Protestant chaplain of the Evangelical Church Alliance denomination.[19] In 2010, he was a chaplain at the Warrant Officer Career College on Fort Rucker.[4] In 2014, Yan was stationed at Fort Bliss.[19]

Yan served two tours in Iraq.[27] Xiong has considered running for Congress in the future, after he retires from the Army.[25]

Personal life

Xiong is married to Qian Liyun.[1] She was arrested along with Shen Tong due to activity relating to the Democracy for China Fund in 1992;[28] they were released and sent to the United States.[29] In the United States, Liyun also joined the Army.[30]

See also

References

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  21. New York Democracy Activists Commemorate Anniversary of June 4th Incident[dead link] Voice of America
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Further reading

  • Appearances on C-SPAN
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External links

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