HONG KONG (UCAN) -- With "hope in the rule of law," an imprisoned Chinese activist, winner of a 2007 Ramon Magsaysay award, will not stop his fight for human rights in the country, his wife says.

Yuan Weijing, wife of 36-year-old Chen Guangcheng, told UCA News on Aug. 13 that her husband did not know yet that he had been named for the Emergent Leadership award. Yuan, who learned of the award in early August, said she would inform him during her monthly prison visit in mid-August.

Dubbed the "barefoot lawyer," Chen, visually impaired since childhood, acquired knowledge in law through self-study and used this knowledge to support villagers and disabled persons in defending their rights, according to the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation. It has posted all the citations for this year's awards on its website (http://www.rmaf.org.ph).

In 2005, Chen revealed the brutal means used by a local government in implementing China's one-child policy. Subsequently, he was threatened. Arrested in August 2006, he was charged with intentionally damaging property and gathering crowds to disrupt traffic. He has been jailed since February 2007 in Linyi Prison in Shandong province, serving a sentence expected to last until September 2010.

Yuan described the award as "encouragement and recognition" for her husband's struggle and commitment to uphold justice for the poor. It "shames those who persecute" Chen, who has been beaten in jail, she said.

Both Chen and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao were among those that the April 30, 2006, issue of Time Magazine listed in its "Time 100: The People Who Shape Our World."

Chen is one of three Chinese recipients of this year's Magsaysay awards. The other two are Tang Xiyang, an environmentalist writer, and To Chung, chairperson of the Hong Kong-based Chi Heng Foundation.

To, 40, told UCA News that being named an awardee, also for Emergent Leadership, shows his work on HIV/AIDS in mainland China is being recognized.

His foundation, started in 1998 to support homosexuals in protecting themselves, now helps socially marginalized people prevent the spread of HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus that usually leads to AIDS.

The foundation also sponsors HIV/AIDS patients in the mainland and supports their children's education, according to To's citation.

Today the Chinese government is more open on this issue, but relying solely on the government to combat HIV/AIDS is not enough, To said. China's society, in general, discriminates against HIV/AIDS patients and their families, he continued. The activist called for more organizations in China to educate society and for the Chinese government to make more of an effort to prevent the spread of the disease and finding its cure.

Many countries, such as Thailand and some countries in Africa, have experience in this area that is worth learning from, but there are few channels for such exchanges, said To, a Hong Kong-born American-Chinese.

Meanwhile, Tang, 77, was selected for the Peace and International Understanding award.

Since he became editor of Great Nature magazine in China in 1980, he started to explore China's nature reserves. He is recognized for guiding China to address its mounting environmental problems.

On July 31, the Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced the award presentation is scheduled to be held at the Philippine Cultural Center in Manila on Aug. 31, the birth anniversary of Ramon Magsaysay, the third president of the Philippines following the country's independence in 1946.

The awards, widely considered the "Asian Nobel Prize," were established in 1957 to commemorate the late president, who died that year.

Aside from Emergent Leadership and Peace and International Understanding, awards are also given for outstanding contributions in the categories of Community Leadership; Government Service; Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts; and Public Service. Each award comprises a certificate, US$50,000 and a medallion.

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