BEIJING - Blind activist Chen Guangcheng and his family left China on a plane bound for the United States Saturday, ending weeks of uncertainty in a saga that sorely tested China-US relations. Chen was whisked to Beijing’s airport from the hospital where he had been treated after his dramatic escape from house arrest and flight to the US embassy which triggered a diplomatic crisis. “We can confirm that Chen Guangcheng, his wife and two children have departed China and are en route to the United States so he can pursue studies at an American university,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement.