Zhao Yufen

Zhao Yufen (; born 1948) is a Chinese chemist at the college of chemistry and chemical engineering at Xiamen University. She has been an outspoken critic of chemical plants. She was the youngest female member elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Biography Zhao was born in Qi County, Hebi, Henan, and moved to Taiwan in 1949 with her parents. Zhao graduated from National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) in 1971, and received her Ph.D from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1975. Zhao was against the plant, which was going to produce paraxylene (PX), a carcinogenic petrochemical, due to health risks and pollution of the environment. She said that "As a project with a high risk of poisonous emissions and explosions, the project should not be located close to a city." Months later, protesters used text messages to spread the word of a demonstration against the plant.

Zhao has work published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Angewandte Chemie, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry, Chemical Communications, Advanced Synthesis & Catalysis, and other journals.