Liang Congjie (; 4 August 1932 – 28 October 2010) was a Chinese historian best known for his work as an

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advo ...

who established the

Friends of Nature Friends of Nature (international abbreviation: NFI, for German: Naturfreunde International) is a non-profit organisation with a background in the social democratic movement, which aims to make the enjoyment of nature accessible to the wider commun ...

in 1994 as the first environmental

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

to be officially recognized by the government of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Liang's father, architect

Liang Sicheng Liang Sicheng (; 20 April 1901 – 9 January 1972) was a Chinese architect and architectural historian, known as the father of modern Chinese architecture. His father, Liang Qichao, was one of the most prominent Chinese scholars of the early ...

, had led attempts to prevent the destruction of the walls surrounding Beijing with the land to be used for the construction of highways. His grandfather

Liang Qichao Liang Qichao (Chinese: 梁啓超 ; Wade-Giles: ''Liang2 Chʻi3-chʻao1''; Yale: ''Lèuhng Kái-chīu'') (February 23, 1873 – January 19, 1929) was a Chinese politician, social and political activist, journalist, and intellectual. His thou ...

spent 14 years in exile in Japan after he advocated on behalf of turning the

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-spea ...

into a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

. His ancestry came to haunt him during the Maoist

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

when he was purged for his being the "grandson of China's biggest royalist". Liang was ultimately able to attend Peking University. Having learned about the activities of Greenpeace, Liang and three of his colleagues at the Academy for Chinese Culture came to agreement that a corresponding organization was required in China to address growing environmental concerns in that country. The group that they formed, Friends of Nature, eschewed Greenpeace's more confrontational techniques, choosing to develop grassroots concern about nature through fostering environmental awareness in schools and establishing the nation's first

birdwatching Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

group. The organization worked with the Chinese government to ensure enforcement of existing environmental law, including efforts to protect a

Tibetan antelope The Tibetan antelope or chiru (''Pantholops hodgsonii'') (, pronounced ; ) is a medium-sized bovid native to the northeastern Tibetan plateau. Most of the population live within the Chinese border, while some scatter across India and Bhutan in ...

which were on the path to extinction and videotaping the cutting stands of old-growth forest in

Western China Western China (, or rarely ) is the west of China. In the definition of the Chinese government, Western China covers one municipality ( Chongqing), six provinces (Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Qinghai), and three autonomous re ...

that led to a 1999 order by

Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji (; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1998 to 2003 and CCP Politburo Standing Committee member from 1992 to 2002 along with the Chinese Communist ...

prohibiting cutting down such trees.Wines, Michael
"Liang Congjie, Chinese Environmental Pioneer, Dies at 78"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', October 29, 2010. Accessed October 29, 2010. Environmentalist Ma Jun described Liang as having "incubated the first generation of environmentalists in China" and described how he worked in conjunction with the government on a "constructively critical" basis to build support for protecting the environment. Friends of Nature's Li Bo credited him with "promoting ordinary Chinese's participation in supervising pollution problems and protecting the environment". Liang was recognized in 2000 with the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which recognizes Asian contributions to public service, noting that he was able to push environmental issues while having "avoided the pitfall of alienating government".Liang Congjie
Magsaysay Awardees Digital Collection. Accessed October 29, 2010. Liang died at the age of 78 on October 28, 2010, due to a lung infection while at a hospital in Beijing.Staff
"Pioneer of China environmental NGOs dies"

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

, October 29, 2010. Accessed October 29, 2010. He was survived by his wife, a daughter and a son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liang Congjie 1932 births 2010 deaths Chinese environmentalists Peking University alumni Deaths from lung disease Ramon Magsaysay Award winners