Chinese Dissident’s Parents Get Visas for Visit : Reunion: Chapman student who fled after the Tien An Men Square massacre hasn’t seen them in six years. They’ll attend his graduation Sunday.

Six years after political dissident Ray Zhang escaped from China in the wake of the Tien An Men Square massacre, he received news Friday that his parents had been granted permission to leave in time to attend his graduation from Chapman University on Sunday.

Barring any last-minute protests from the Chinese government, Zhang will be reunited with his parents today for the first time since he left his homeland aboard a motorboat normally reserved for cigarette smugglers.

“I have a lot of things to talk to them about, and they have a lot of things to ask me,” said Zhang, who lives in the college dormitory. “But at that particular moment, we probably won’t know what to say to each other. . . .

“I guess a big hug will be necessary,” he added.

Zhang, 26, was in charge of broadcasting news from the outside world to students gathered in Tien An Men Square during the 1989 pro-democracy sit-ins. But when government tanks ended the protests, Zhang fled to Hong Kong and Paris before ending up in the United States three years ago.

Zhang has been trying to arrange a visit with his parents in the United States for two years, but opposition from both U.S. and Chinese officials has prevented a reunion until now.

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Friday, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who has been working on the Zhang case for more than a year, announced that the U.S. Embassy in Beijing had issued visas to Zhang’s parents.

Opposition to the Zhangs’ visit started with Chinese officials. Because of Ray Zhang’s anti-government activism in China and abroad, authorities would not allow his parents to leave the country and made them report to the police on a regular basis.

When Secretary of State Warren Christopher met with Beijing officials last year, he persuaded them to allow the elder Zhangs to visit their son.

Zhang’s father, Zhenchi, is a 64-year-old retired professor of English literature who specializes in Shakespeare, Zhang said. His mother, Li Ling, 59, is a retired professor of sociology.

But just as the Chinese government opened one door for the Zhangs, the U.S. government shut another. The consulate refused to grant a visa to the couple because they had little reason to return to China.

The Zhangs do not have any close relatives in China; their daughter, Judy, fled China with Ray and now lives in Canada. Also, the Zhangs do not own any property, a typical arrangement in the Communist country.

Hoping that last-minute negotiations would break the deadlock, Zhang had purchased two round-trip tickets for his parents on Northwest Airlines. He said he has promised Cox that his parents will return to their native country after one month.

“I have to follow my promise,” he said.

Zhang has not heard the voices of his mother and father since leaving China. Instead, they have exchanged phone messages via friends in Hong Kong. The family has sent about 35 letters back and forth, also through intermediaries.

Zhang’s parents will attend graduation ceremonies Sunday, and Zhang’s mother will turn 60 the next day. Zhang also hopes to visit Washington, New York and Las Vegas with his parents.

“That’s typical capitalism,” he said of the Nevada gambling mecca. “A lot of lights, money and beauty.”

Zhang hopes to return to China after he receives his Ph.D. in political science from Claremont College, where he has already been accepted.

“I want to carry these ideas back to China: democracy, freedom, liberty,” he said.

Lisa Richwine of States News Service in Washington contributed to this report.