In case he did not return within two months, Yang had also left two letters for Fu to send out: one to a colleague where he worked—the Foundation for China in the 21st Century—and another to a friend.

Yang and Fu’s church began to run an urgent notice about Yang’s disappearance in its weekly newsletter and distributed pins and magnets displaying Yang’s picture, encouraging parishioners to help in the quest.

Fu said her and Yang’s connection to Harvard has also helped generate publicity and support for his return.

34 Harvard Faculty members have sent out letters of support, including University President Lawrence H. Summers.

But Fu herself has taken on the brunt of the work in trying to bring Yang back to the U.S.

A few weeks after his arrest, Fu tried to enter China to find her husband. Chinese immigration officers said she posed a threat to the country and forced her to return to America.

Soon after she lost touch with him, Fu began to make trips to Washington, balancing care of her children and work at HMS with visits to Capitol Hill.

“She can teach a course on how to lobby the Hill because she does it with such persistence and intelligence and humility and gratitude that it’s impossible to ignore her,” says Daniel McGlinchey, a spokesperson for Rep. Barney Frank ’61, D-Mass. “She worked with both the House and the Senate, both democrats and republicans, both the legislative branch and the executive branch, with such grace that they adore her.”

Frank has been one of Yang’s most ardent supporters and he and McGlinchey have been working very closely with Fu.

“What’s most impressive is she had no background whatsoever about the American political system and has become a master of the legislative process,” says Jared Genser, Yang’s classmate at KSG and his pro bono lawyer. “She is a much more effective advocate on behalf of her husband because...she’s articulate and...people will feel much more guilty about not returning her calls than mine.”

Genser says he could not ask for a better client than Fu.

“I personally have been inspired by her strength,” Genser says. “She’s going through such a tough time but she’s still always asking what’s the next thing she can do.”

A Transformation

For Fu, a shy, softspoken woman, becoming a political activist has meant both coming out of her shell and entering a realm of Yang’s life she had never seen before.

“Like a lot of marriages, he did his work and she did her work,” her friend Seavy says. “She’s such an accomplished academic in her own right and she takes care of the children, so she didn’t get involved in his work...This has been an incredible awakening for her as to what his work was.”