In Memoriam Fang Lizhi

Andrew Nathan 

April 19，2012

What has always stood out in my mind about Fang Lizhi was his statement, in 1987 if I remember correctly, that things had changed in China: now, he said, “Shei ye bupa shei” – nobody is afraid any more. Of course it wasn’t true. Lots of people were afraid, and the crackdown of 1989 showed that they had good reason to be afraid. Yet Fang was a man of courage. He himself seemed never to be afraid. He wrote and said what he thought, and was willing to suffer the consequences. In his life in exile – which is when I first came to know him – he showed no regret for the path he had taken, even though he had lost so much. He was serene and, as we say in American English, “centered”; a man of poise who continued to know what he believed in and what he stood for. If it was not literally true that nobody was afraid any more, at least it was true that Fang modeled for the rest of us what it is to be unafraid. And this to me is his greatest legacy, for it continues – unfortunately – to be a lesson that is still needed by all who try to speak the truth in China.

怀念方励之

黎安友

　　关于方励之，我印象最深的是他的一句话，记得是在1987年，他说，中国已经变了，现在，谁也不怕谁。当然，实情并非如此，还是有很多人害怕，六四镇压表明他们的怕是有根据的。然而方先生是勇者。他好像从来不害怕。他坦陈己见，直言不讳，并甘愿承担一切后果。在方励之流亡期间－－我是在这时与他结识的，他表现出对他过去做的事无怨无悔，尽管他为此付出了巨大代价。他沉静安详，象我们美国人说的，凝神专注；他泰然自若，一如既往，坚持自己的信念，坚持自己的立场。如果在字面意义上说人们都不再恐惧是不真实的，那么至少对方先生来说是真实的，方先生给我们树立了一个无所畏惧的榜样。这就是方先生给我们留下的最大遗产，不幸的是，每一个要讲真话的中国人仍然还需要有这样的精神。

　　2012年4月12日

　　这是黎安友（Andrew Nathan）教授给方励之先生追思会的书面发言，由王念译成中文。黎安友是著名中国问题专家，哥伦比亚大学教授，中国人权理事会共同主席。此文由他的学生，现就读于哥伦比亚大学的90后张友谊同学代为宣读。