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My Brother, My Opposite: A Tale of Two Fates

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Bill is my only sibling. We haven’t seen each other in 27 years—our lives split by fundamentally different choices. Bill joined the Chinese Communist Party and worked for the government. I left China 31 years ago and later became an activist for human rights in China. Our parents, deeply scarred by the Cultural Revolution, gave us a childhood steeped in confusion and fear. That brutal movement led to the deaths of two million intellectuals. Our mother, a political science graduate from a prestigious university, was sent to work as a secretary in a car manufacturing plant. Our father, who dreamed of becoming a nuclear scientist, was forced into a coal mine thousands of miles from home for a decade. He was only transferred to a post near Mom when malnutrition-induced illness left him seriously ill. In their eyes, academic brilliance was a curse—a mark for political persecution. Though Bill and I excelled in math and science, our parents feared for us. To protect us, they enrolled us in a...
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On the 36th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre

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  Today I recalled my experience after June 4, 1989. The Tiananmen Square Massacre changed my view about this world. This 50min conversation with Bishop Dennis Eversen covered my experience in the past 30 years as a scientist searching for truth.
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My Personal Experience as a Dissident International Student

Students from totalitarian regimes more or less have some fear even after they arrive in the land of freedom. The main reason is that their fellows may act as spies to report their speeches or actions to the embassy.    In 2000, I was a fifth-year graduate student at Caltech. My personal life was simple. I played badminton three times a week, meditated daily with Falun Gong practice, and served as a treasurer for the Caltech Chinese Student Club (Caltech C). The Chinese authority started persecuting Falun Gong in 1999, but I continued to meditate on campus every morning. I noticed some Chinese folks took pictures or videos of us during the meditation sessions. One day, the president of the Chinese student club warned me. " Wen, you better be careful. " said he, " The Chinese consulate asked me to report your activities. " He said he was probably not the only one who got this " reques t ".   It happened to many universities. A few years ago, a colleague...
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Agents of the Chinese Communist Party in Los Angeles and New York

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I created this summary on Dec. 23, 2024, for the California Insider interview based on the U.S. Department of Justice reports. I. Mike (Yaoning) Sun, campaign manager of Arcadia council member Eileen Wang in 2022, was arrested on December 17, 2024, for being a CCP (Chinese Communist Party) agent. He is the third arrested member of a group of CCP agents (with 7 - 8 members, according to a DOJ criminal complaint). John (Jun) Chen, leader of this group, and Feng Lin were arrested in May 2023. Chen and Lin were sentenced to 20 and 16 months in prison, respectively, in November 2024. II. Main projects of this CCP agent group:     A.  Manipulate political elections            1. Help Beijing-favored candidates to be elected. In a conversation with PRC government officials, Chen referred to the candidate as being part of a “basic team dedicated for us.”          2. Through their elected candidate, approach other elected...
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Falun Gong and Human Rights in China

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What is Falun Gong Falun Gong is also known as Falun Dafa. It is a Chinese body and mind practice based on "Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance".  "Falun" means universe; "Gong" means energy; "Dafa" means principle. Falun Gong is famous for its health benefits. A 1998 official survey in China indicated that 98% of practitioners reported improved health. Its data stated that 72% of Falun Gong practitioners were female.  Over 100 million people are practicing Falun Gong in over 100 countries.  There is no registration or membership to practice Falun Gong. The Falun Gong teachings are always free of charge because no one should use it for profit according to its principles. All the books, audio, and videos are free to download from websites maintained by volunteers. There are practice sites worldwide where newcomers can learn from other practitioners.  Why Persecution The Chinese Communist Party is afraid of the popularity of any independent thinking....
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"Working Women in Ancient China" by Wen Chen (Video)

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  A 30-minute overview of ancient Chinese women's roles in their families, their education, and stories of some outstanding women professionals in history. Literature and traditional Chinese paintings were annotated by Wen Chen, a scientific curator for Caltech's WormBase project. This talk was originally crafted for the Lunar New Year celebration of Caltech Women in Biology and Biological Engineering.
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What is Political

When I grew up in China, being "political" was dangerous. Once you complain about policies made by the government, you become "political" by challenging the propaganda system. The authority will punish you, your family, and your friends. We all carefully stayed within the line to protect ourselves. Getting used to the freedom of speech in the U.S. took me quite a few years. Then I noticed a similar fear of being political.  For example, sports are apolitical. People cannot wear a T-shirt asking "Where is Peng Shuai" at sports games because it is a political slogan. But it is apolitical for Eileen Gu to say that Peng Shuai is "freely doing what she wants to do." to whitewash the sexual assault that the female tennis player suffered from a former Chinese prime minister. In the same logic, some of my colleagues believe that science is apolitical, so scientists can collaborate with any country without worrying about how the government will use their ...
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