A Chinese physician from Beijing who publicized a cover-up of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome epidemic in China

A newspaper photographer from Shenqiu who exposed the blackened water, poisonous fumes and dead fish of the Huai river through his moving photographs

China’s “most dangerous woman” who has changed her country’s media landscape through her balanced and strongly-researched journalistic style that does not stir up emotions, and keeps its eye on the issues rather than on personalities

A medical doctor who discovered that the high incidence of HIV-AIDS in China's Henan province was due to the profitable but reckless business of selling human blood

A Chinese farmer who has done bold, constructive work in seizing and creating opportunities to address China's environmental issues

A pioneering Chinese researcher and professor of sociology and anthropology noted for his studies in the study of China's ethnic groups as well as a social activist

A successful US-educated banker in Hong Kong who left his job at the bank to devote himself full-time to China's AIDS crisis

China's indefatigable government leader who, as chairman of the Joint Commission on Rural Reconstruction, successfully increased agricultural production in the hands of farmers' organizations and enriched the quality of rural life

A blind "barefoot lawyer" who is energizing the grass roots and, with many others, in challenging Chinese local authorities to obey the laws of the state