Wanhong Zhang (1976-2024)
Biography:
Professor Wanhong Zhang was born on June 15, 1976 in Luoyang City, Henan Province. He studied at Wuhan University from 1993 to 2004, where he received his Bachelor of Laws, Master of Laws, and Doctor of Laws degrees. He completed the certificate program at the John Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in 2003, and he also studied at Columbia University School of Law, where he received an LL.M. degree and a diploma in comparative law from the American Law Institute in 2012. Starting July 2003, he taught at the Wuhan University School of Law; he was also a Visiting Professor at the China University of Political Science and Law.
Professor Zhang was an empathetic, pioneering, prolific, and socially-engaged academic, who devoted his life to the study and teaching of jurisprudence and human rights (including disability rights). He was dedicated to human rights research rooted in basic principles of jurisprudence, and is one of the most visible and influential scholars in the field of the rights of marginalized groups in China. He co-founded and was the Director of the Wuhan University Institute for Human Rights Studies (a national base for human rights education and training). He played a key role in shifting the paradigm of disability research in China, advocating and promoting a rights-based, empirical and multidisciplinary research methodology. He published more than 60 papers and edited more than 10 books in English and Chinese with reputable academic journals and publishers, major newspapers and magazines at home and abroad, covering various topics such as legal aid, disability rights and business and human rights.
Celebrating Zhang’s Activism and Scholarship:
His rigorous academic achievements made him a guest, member, and consultant of numerous prestigious academic institutes as well as high-level domestic, regional, and international organizations. Through these affiliations, he made policy recommendations, promoted the domestic application of international human rights standards, and illuminated for the world the experience and learnings from China. He was involved in drafting a series of laws and regulations concerning human rights, and participated in the formulation and drafting of National Human Rights Action Plans and the National White Paper on Human Rights. In 2017, as an independent expert, he drafted China’s combined second and third periodic reports of States parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He was nominated as a candidate for a member of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the period 2025-2028.
Zhang’s Impacts:
Professor Zhang is an impactful (if not the most) role model to many, and loved by many, especially in the Chinese disability community. He has been a mentor to me since 2017/2018 when I was selected as an Asia Foundation development fellow. Professor Zhang was a kind, genuine, resourceful, charismatic, eloquent, generous, and overall super-talented leader/scholar/friend. There’s no other scholar/person with a disability in China who has done Professor Zhang’s pioneering work and made the impact he did. To many younger scholars, advocates, and professionals (both disabled and non-disabled) including myself, Professor Zhang always offered his support, resources, guidance (when needed), and care in his capacity. It has been so very hard to say goodbye to him. Due to personal reasons, I have little space and time to process and grieve this huge loss, both to myself and to the field of disability and human rights in China and beyond. I feel so privileged to have been one of the numerous recipients of his persistent support and care, and to have the opportunities to hang out with him in person outside of a professional setting. I am honored to have been able to work closely with him these past years. Professor Zhang’s presence and influence will be felt by many of us for years and decades.
To Learn More About Zhang:
- Donald Clarke, “Zhang Wanhong, 1976-2024,” The China Collective (6/30/2024): https://thechinacollection.org/zhang-wanhong-1976-2024/
- “In Loving Memory of Prof. Zhang Wanhong,” https://padlet.com/liuhanxu/in-loving-memory-of-prof-zhang-wanhong-1976-06-15-2024-06-29-btoxsbi4s7awv6t0
- Peng Ding, Wei Gao, Zhong Huang, and Hanxu Liu, “Zhang Wanhong,” Amicus Curiae (11/04/2024): https://journals.sas.ac.uk/amicus/article/view/5736
- “Wanhong Zhang,” Diversability (July 23, 2024): https://mydiversability.com/d30-2024-honorees/2024/7/23/wanhong-zhang
This celebration was compiled by Luanjiao Hu