Chinese Dissident Sees Parents Again : Reunion: Ray Zhang, who fled six years ago and became a Chapman University student, succeeds in bringing his father and mother to his new home.

Hugs and human rights were in order as Chapman University student and Chinese political dissident Ray Zhang was reunited with his parents at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday after being separated for six years.

“It’s very difficult for me to put into a few words my strong emotions,” said Zhang, 26, shortly after hugging his parents as they walked out of customs.

Zhang fled China after participating in the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tian An Men Square in 1989, and after stays in Hong Kong and Paris, settled in the United States three years ago.

The arrival of Zhang’s parents came just in time for his graduation from Chapman University in Orange today, when he will receive a master’s degree in business. The arrival also came just days before the sixth anniversary of the June 4 massacre in Tian An Men Square, when government tanks put an untimely end to the pro-democracy demonstrations.

“The affairs of nations are important,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who helped get permission for Zhang’s parents to leave China, and who was on hand Saturday when they arrived at the airport. “But it is all about [helping] people.”

For two years, Zhang has been trying to arrange a meeting with his parents in the United States. But because of his anti-government activism while in China and abroad, Chinese officials would not allow his parents to leave.

Because of pressure from U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the Zhangs were eventually granted permission to visit their son.

But U.S. officials in China, worried that the Zhangs would not return to China, refused to grant them visas.

Negotiations reached a fever pitch as Ray Zhang’s graduation and the sixth anniversary of Tian An Men Square approached.

Only Friday, Cox’s office release a statement saying that the U.S. ambassador in China had granted Zhang’s parents visas.

If the Zhangs had been unable to board Northwest Airlines Flight 2 out of Beijing on Saturday, they would have missed their son’s graduation.

Ray Zhang’s mother, Li Ling Zhang, is a 59-year-old retired professor of sociology from Beijing University. His father, Zhenchi Zhang, is 64 and will retire as a professor of English literature from Beijing University this summer.

Ray Zhang noted that his father was a Shakespeare buff, and when asked what his favorite work was, Zhenchi said it was “Hamlet.”

“To be or not to be, that is the question,” said the elder Zhang, quoting that play’s famous refrain. He then added: “To come to the United States--to see my son, or not--that has been my question all this long time.”

He got his answer.