She graduated from Peking University with a degree in Psychology in 1987. She was a graduate student working on her Masters degree in Child Psychology during the student movement in 1989.
She initiated and led the hunger strike during the protests.
She was on the wanted list by the Chinese government. She fled from China in April 1990. After 10 months of exile, she settled in Paris, France. She later received an honorary Masters degree from Princeton University. Then she moved to Boston where she studied Business Administration at Harvard University.