Native name 熊焱 Role Protester | Name Xiong Yan | |
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Years of service 1994–19961996–2003 Army Reserves2003–present Battles/wars Operation Iraqi Freedom Unit | ||
Other work Student protest leader Service/branch United States Army | ||
Xiong Yan (Chinese: 熊焱) is a China-born naturalized American. He was a dissident involved in Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Xiong Yan studied at Beijing University Law School from 1986–1989. He came to the United States of America as a political refugee in 1992, and later became a chaplain in U.S. Army, serving in Iraq. Xiong Yan is the author of three books, and has earned six degrees.
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Dissident
Growing up in Hunan, he moved to Beijing to pursue graduate level studies in law at Beijing University. He was a probationary member of the Chinese Communist Party. While at Beijing University, he was a member of Caodi Salon, which Liu Gang had organized.
Yan was a student leader during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. At one point, he called himself "general commander". After the crackdown at Tiananmen Square, he was placed on China's "most wanted" list. Captured in late June 1989 at Datong, he was returned to Beijing under armed guard of hundreds of soldiers. Afterwards, he was detained for 19 months at Qincheng Prison without being charged with a crime.
After his release, Yan's academic credentials were stripped from him, and he was unable to obtain identification. During this period he converted to Christianity having met a member of an underground church. He fled mainland China in May 1992. After being granted political asylum he moved to the United States in June 1992, initially moving to the Los Angeles area. He remains a fugitive of mainland China.
After leaving China
Moving to Boston, he studied English at Harvard University and was accepted into its divinity school but declined its admission. He later attended Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary; eventually he earned a doctorate from the same seminary. In 2005 in The Epoch Times, he announced that he had withdrawn his membership of the Chinese Communist Party. He is still active in the overseas China democracy movement. In 2009, he made a trip to Hong Kong to attend a candlelight vigil on the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown. It was estimated that 150 thousand people attended the vigil. This was the first time for him, within a 17-year time span, to return to China since 1992. In 2010, Chai Ling and he were panel members at a discussion on China's One-child policy held at Rayburn House Office Building. In 2015, after receiving word that his mother's health was failing, Yan appealed to mainland China to be allowed to return to see her before she dies.
Military service
Yan went on to join the United States Army. By 1999, he was a sergeant in the Army Reserves, and working on his second bachelor's degree, studying at the University of North Carolina. Serving eight years in the Army Reserves, he was commissioned as an officer in 2003. He serves as a Protestant chaplain of the Evangelical Church Alliance denomination. In 2010, he was a chaplain at the Warrant Officer Career College on Fort Rucker. In 2014, Yan was stationed at Fort Bliss.
Yan served two tours in Iraq. Xiong has considered running for Congress in the future, after he retires from the Army.
Personal life
Xiong is married to Qian Liyun. She was arrested along with Shen Tong due to activity relating to the Democracy for China Fund in 1992; they were released and sent to the United States. In the United States, Liyun also joined the Army.