Chen Guangcheng - Early Life and Family

Early Life and Family

Chen is the youngest of five brothers of a peasant family from the village of Dongshigu, Yinan County, Shandong Province, approximately 200 km from the city of Jinan. When Chen was about six months old, he lost his sight due to a fever that destroyed his optical nerves. In an interview for the New York Review of Books, Chen said that although his family did not identify with an organized religion, his upbringing was informed by a "traditional belief in virtue that’s present in Chinese culture—that might have some Buddhist content, but not necessarily that one believes in Buddhism." His village was poor, with many families living at a subsistence level. "When I went to school I’d be happy if I just got enough to eat," he recalled.

Chen's father worked as an instructor at a Communist Party school, earning the equivalent of about $60 annually. When Chen was a child, his father would read literary works aloud to him, and reportedly helped impart to his son an appreciation of the values of democracy and freedom. In 1991, Chen's father gave him a copy of "The Law Protecting the Disabled," which elaborated on the legal rights and protections in place for disabled persons in the PRC.

In 1989, at the age of 18, Chen began attending school as a grade one student at the Elementary School for the Blind in Linyi city. In 1994, he enrolled at the Qingdao High School for the Blind, where he studied until 1998. He had already begun developing an interest in law, and would often ask his brothers to read legal texts to him. He earned a position at the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1998 but because his family was poor, they had to borrow $340 to cover tuition costs. They still fell short of the required $400 and university authorities reportedly had to be pleaded with before allowing Chen to enroll. He studied in Nanjing from 1998 to 2001, specializing in acupuncture and massage—the only programs available to the blind. Chen also audited legal courses, gaining a sufficient understanding of the law to allow him to aid his fellow villagers when they sought his assistance. After graduation he returned to his home region and found a job as a masseur in the hospital of Yinan County.

Chen met his wife, Yuan Weijing, in 2001, after listening to a radio talk show. Yuan had called in to the show to discuss her difficulties in landing a job after graduating from the foreign language department of Shandong's Chemistry Institute. Chen, who listened to the program, later contacted Yuan and relayed his own story of hardship as a blind man living on just 400 Yuan per year. Yuan was moved by the exchange, and later that year, she traveled to Chen's village to meet him. The couple eloped in 2003. Their son, Chen Kerui, was born later that year. In 2005 they had a second child—a daughter named Chen Kesi—in violation of China's one-child policy. Yuan, who had been working as an English teacher at the time of the marriage, left her job in 2003 in order to assist her husband in his legal work.