Xiao Qiang

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Xiao Qiang

Xiao Qiang (Simplified Chinese: 萧强; Traditional Chinese: 蕭強; pinyin: Xiāo Qiáng) is a well-known Chinese human rights activist living in Berkeley, California. He is currently the director of the China Internet Project at the Graduate School of Journalism University of California, Berkeley.

Xiao studied physics at the University of Science and Technology of China and from there entered the University of Notre Dame astrophysics PhD program from 1986 to 1989. After the events of Tiananmen Square in 1989, he became a human rights activist. He was Executive Director of Human Rights in China from 1991 to 2002 and vice-chairman of the steering committee of the World Movement for Democracy. He is also a weekly commentator for Radio Free Asia.

Xiao is currently teaching classes on Participatory Media, China and Human Rights; researching the confluence of information and communication technologies and China's social and political transition; and running the China Digital Times news portal to explore how emerging participatory media technologies and practices can advance the world's understanding of China.

Xiao was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship in 2001, and was a visiting fellow of the Santa Fe Institute in Spring, 2002.