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◆障害学国際セミナー2024
◆張 恒豪　2024/10/25　「In Memory of Professor Zhang Wanhong」（日本語）

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Professor Chang, Wanhong was a Chinese human rights scholar, a passionate advocate for universal disability rights, and a co-founder of the East Asian Disability Studies Forum. To me, however, he was more than just a colleague in disability studies; he was a dear friend. To my memories, we first met about ten years ago at an event titled Rights of Persons with Disabilities: The Journey and Experiences of Taiwan, held at National Chung Cheng University. This workshop, organized by Professor Wang, Guoyu from Department of Social Welfare, was arranged at Wanhong's request for Chinese NGO workers and graduate students. As a legal scholar—specifically in jurisprudence—Wanhong was always incredibly humble and kind. To promote human rights in China, he didn’t emphasize high-level legal theories but instead encouraged law students and NGO workers to adopt social science research methods to better understand the realities of disability rights from the ground up. Before reaching out to Taiwan’s disability studies community, he had already collaborated with National Chengchi University, where he organized a social science research methods workshop. Wanhong also launched interdisciplinary journals to broaden perspectives on disability rights in China. This marked the start of our friendship, which lasted a decade, though we hadn’t seen each other in person since the pandemic. Ten years—it feels so short. He was younger than I am, but I always saw him as a senior. He had a broad perspective, a calm and practical approach to his work, and a strong commitment to social practice. He was truly a visionary. In 2015, at a summer school organized by Simon Ng at Hong Kong University, I attended as a lecturer and a participant, reuniting with Wanhong and colleagues from Wuhan, where we connected with international disability studies community. In 2016, there was a multidisciplinary workshop held in Wuhan. Of course, several of us scholars from Taiwan attended without hesitation. Between international academics, including scholars from Taiwan and Hong Kong, and local officials, we could see the difficult position Wanhong was in. He walked a tightrope, moving between international funding, global human rights networks, the government, and local NGOs. In 2016 at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, Taiwan joined the East Asia Disability Studies Forum, following in the footsteps of China and joining Japan and South Korea’s efforts. The forum continued in Asan, South Korea, in 2017; Taipei in 2018; and Wuhan in 2019. Each time we met, in addition to academic exchanges, we shared updates on the status of disability rights across different regions, often over drinks and lively discussions about movies, literature, music, food, and wine. He even spent half a year as a visiting scholar at the Institute of Law at Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Ironically, it was actually Wanhong who introduced me to the international disability human rights network. Over the years, I could see the rapid and impressive progress Chinese scholars were making in disability rights research, even as the challenges and limitations they faced grew. After the 2019 East Asia Disability Forum in Wuhan, he must have sensed that my companion Fengshan and I weren’t interested in touring in the shopping mall. Instead, he took us to a roadside IPA pub, where we drank IPA and ate charcoal-grilled street food. Amid the noise and flow of traffic, we could chat anything we wanted. He was an incurable romantic. It had been a long time since I drank that much beer; we kept him company that night, sensing an unspoken frustration in his words. On the way back, slightly drunk, I couldn’t help singing The Internationale loudly, as if to dispel the somber atmosphere lingering from our conversation at the small pub. Raising a glass, singing out loud—isn’t that what life’s about? I never thought that would be our final farewell. Wanhong’s focus extended beyond disability rights. His contributions are too numerous to list here. What I do know is that the students he mentored have already taken root, spreading across NGOs and elite universities in China and around the world, each carrying his mission forward in their own way. Life is short, and perhaps this is the best way for his legacy to continue. Wanhong had the deep concern for his country that is often seen in Chinese intellectuals. He could find ways to carry on his work even amid changing circumstances. He was, without a doubt, a model intellectual whom I admired deeply. His passing is a tremendous loss for global disability human rights. Wanhong, may you rest in peace. If we meet in another life, let’s raise our glasses and talk freely!