Chai Ling

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chai

Chai Ling (Chinese: 柴玲; Pinyin: Chái Líng) (born 15 April 1966) was one of the leaders in the Tian'anmen Square protests of 1989.

Chai Ling was born in the city of Rìzhào in Shāndōng province. She graduated from Beijing University in 1987 and then undertook graduate study in Beijing Normal University concentrating on child psychology.

She emerged as one of the student leaders on the Square at a later stage of the movement, and although there was no official power rested in her post, for which she was constantly referred to as the icon fighter of democracy.

The most controversial aspect of her role in the protests was her uncompromising stand on the Tian'anmen Square. Her tactics centered on publicly shaming the communist Chinese government for its callous disregard for its people. She was arguably the main factor that resulted in the ultimate failure of Tian'anmen movement which ended with PLA's crackdown. The contrast between her high-profile in the movement and subsequent distancing from the democratic movement after the crackdown made her vulnerable to the accusation that she was an opportunistic and calculating fame-seeker only interested in improving her social and financial situation at the cost of others, in the name of democracy.

In an interview with American journalist Philip Cunningham on May 28, 1989, she stated:

"The students kept asking, 'What should we do next? What can we accomplish?' I feel so sad, because how can I tell them that what we are actually hoping for is bloodshed, for the moment when the government has no choice but to brazenly butcher us. Only when the Square is awash with blood will the people of China open their eyes. Only then will they really be united. But how can I explain this to my fellow students? And what is truly sad is that some students, and famous well-connected people, are working hard to help the government, to prevent it from taking such measures. For the sake of their selfish interests and their private dealings they are trying to cause our movement to collapse and get us out of the Square before the government becomes so desperate that it takes action."[1]

She was on the wanted list by the Chinese government. She fled from China in April 1990, with the help of Hong Kong-funded organizations, and completed a beautifying plastic surgery while in exile, claiming that this would help conceal her identity. After 10 months of hiding, she settled in Paris, France, where she immediately divorced her then-husband, Fēng Cóngdé (封从德), once she accepted a full scholarship to Princeton University. She later received an honorary Masters degree in Political Science from Princeton University. After this, she served as a junior consultant at Bain & Co., a leading strategic consulting firm, during 1993-1996 in its Boston office.

Then she moved on to acquire an MBA at Harvard Business School in 1998. She runs a software company with her current husband, Robert A. Maginn Jr., who was the vice president and partner of the Boston office of Bain & Co. Maginn was instrumental in the hiring of Chai into Bain, a controversial move fiercely opposed by Bain's Asian partners for the fear of provoking the Chinese government. After rampant rumors of an affair between the two, Maginn divorced his wife to marry Chai.

They now co-run an enterprise software development company called Jenzabar'. Jenzabar was founded in 1998 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and specializes in institutional management software for universities and colleges.

Chai and Maginn Jr. were sued by five former executives and Harvard Business School for "a number of illegal actions."[2]

"Today, I am living the American dream," Chai told Parade magazine in June of 2003. She also serves as a trustee to a few local education institutes in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she resides.

She repeatedly declined an interview for the documentary film on the 1989 student demonstrations, "Gate of Heavenly Peace,"[3] released in 1995.

She reportedly made a trip to China seeking business opporunities in 2005.

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