Chai Ling

Chai Ling
Chai Ling (2009)
Born	(1966-04-15) April 15, 1966 (age 51) Rizhao, Shandong, China
Alma mater	Peking University Beijing Normal University Princeton University (MLA) Harvard Business School (MBA)
Occupation	President & Chief Operating Officer of Jenzabar
Spouse(s)	Feng Congde Robert Maginn

Chai Ling (Chinese: 柴玲; Pinyin: Chái Líng) (born April 15, 1966 in Rizhao, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China) is a Chinese psychologist who was one of the student leaders in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Today she is the founder of All Girls Allowed, an organization dedicated to ending China's one-child policy, and the founder and President of Jenzabar, an enterprise resource planning software firm for educational institutions.

Chai was born on April 15, 1966 in Rizhao, in Shandong province, China. Both Chai’s mother and father had been doctors in the People’s Liberation Army during the 1950s. Chai is the eldest of four children. In 1983, Chai Ling began her education at Peking University where she eventually earned a BA in psychology. Chai met her future husband, Feng Congde, in January 1987. She became aware of Feng after his arrest on January 1, 1987 for his participation in a democracy demonstration, and met him a few days later on her way to the university library. Chai and Feng were married in the spring of 1988, though they were forced to alter their identification because they failed to meet the age requirements to be legally married. After their wedding, Chai was accepted as a graduate student at the Child Psychology Institute of Beijing Normal University. Chai and Feng became increasingly distant over the course of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests, and their marriage ended in divorce soon after the movement ended.

Chai first became involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests through her work as a secretary for the Beijing University Preparatory Committee, which had elected Chai’s husband Feng into a leadership position. She rose to prominence as a student leader as a result of her involvement in the student hunger strike. Chai has stated that the idea for the hunger strike was given to her by Zhang Boli, another Beijing University student, but has also claimed that a member of the national security force informed her that a hunger strike would elicit a reaction from the government. On May 12, fellow demonstrator Wang Dan approached Chai and informed her that he planned to join the hunger strike, which at the time consisted of only forty members. Chai agreed to join as well, and that evening delivered a speech to the demonstrators that generated a large amount of support for the hunger strike movement, and enabled Chai to gather support from the student demonstrators and endorsement from the Beijing Students’ Autonomous Federation.