The Most Wanted Man in China: My Journey from Scientist to Enemy of the State

Fang Lizhi was one of the most prominent scientists of the People’s Republic of China; he worked on the country’s first nuclear program and later became one of the world’s leading astrophysicists. But his devotion to science and the pursuit of truth led him to question the authority of the Communist regime. That got him into trouble.

In 1957, after advocating reforms in the Communist Party, Fang—just twenty-one years old—was dismissed from his position, stripped of his Party membership,…