Liu Caipin

Liu Caipin worked at Purple Mountain Observatory as an astronomer in China for about 20 years. She studied astronomy at The University of Tokyo during 1955, meeting her husband Kimura Hiroshi (also an astronomer) in Japan, and later, they had two children born in Japan. As time passed, her homesickness led her decision to come back to Nanjing with her family, and in 1971, Caipin and her husband started to work in the observatory in Nanjing.[1] Caipin had published many articles in the field of astronomy, most in collaboration with her husband. Her most cited article was, Yang J, Ohashi N, Yan J, Liu C, Kaifu N, Kimura H. Detection of infall motion from the circumstellar disk associated with the exciting source of HH 111. The Astrophysical Journal. 1997 Feb 1;475(2):683, has been cited 31 times, according to Google Scholar.[2])

In 1981, she became the first president of the council at All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, serving as a liaison between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, improving their relationship. She convinced the Chinese mainland to give two giant pandas to Taiwan in the first meeting of the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots.[3] Her achievements made her a member of the National People's Congress; she also played a key role in the development and passing of the Civil Servant Law of the People's Republic of China.

Despite spending most of her life in Japan, her bond towards the country she was born in grew stronger. In 1990, Caipin, as a member of Congress, supported the lawsuit toward Japan regarding Japan's actions against China during World War II. In her evaluation of the book "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang, her strong feeling towards Nanjing's history also led her to dedicate her life to spreading awareness of war atrocities committed by the Japanese military in Nanjing during World War II.[4]