Tong Zeng

Tong Zeng (Chinese name: 童增, born June 3, 1956) is a Chinese scholar, peace activist, and businessman. He is chairman of the China Federation of Demanding Compensation from Japan, and is chairman of Zhongxiang Investment Co., Ltd.

Tong Zeng wrote a paper in 1990,^[1][2][3] later known as Tong Zeng's "Book of Ten Thousand Words", which triggered a civil movement to safeguard the dignity and rights of victims of Japanese atrocities during World War II.^[4][5][6] Early on, Tong Zeng was restricted by the Chinese government.^[7] Reports by Human Rights Watch in 1994 and 1996, Amnesty International in 1995, and the US State Department in 1995 and 1996 mentioned that Tong Zeng was unfairly treated.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} He was a Nobel Peace Prize candidate in 2015^[13][14] and 2017.^[15][16] He speaks for the voiceless and seeks for justice and peace in an uncertain world.^[17]

Tong was also the first to question the "Human Genome Project". In 1998, he publicly opposed the collection of blood samples of the elderly in China, and by some institutions in both China and the United States, for the so-called purpose of studying the model and analysis of the mortality of the elderly. Science magazine also participated in the interview report.^{[18][19][20][21][22]} In 2003, he published the book The Last Line of Defense, in which he proposed that "SARS might be produced in a laboratory or a genetic weapon aimed at the Chinese". In the preface of the book, Tong wrote: "Though the cause of the SARS virus has not been found, this book gives people a new thinking," the AP, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, China Youth Daily, and other media reported.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

On July 6, 2019, Tong wrote to suggest that the United Nations should learn from the historical lessons of Albert Einstein and other scientists who failed to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons after the war, and must prevent the militarization and weapons of biological genetic research in some countries. At the end of 2019, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, he raised his concern to the Chinese government that the virus may have originated from laboratories, and sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the World Health Organization, asking them to conduct thorough inspections of all biological, viral, and genetic laboratories around the world.^[28]