Man of Arms the Liu Xiaobo facts
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo (2008) Born 28 December 1955 Changchun, Jilin, China Died 13 July 2017 (aged 61)Shenyang, Liaoning, China Cause of death Multiple organ failure complicated from liver cancer Nationality Chinese Alma mater Jilin University Beijing Normal University Occupation Writer, political commentator, human rights activist Spouse(s) Liu Xia (m. 1996; his death 2017) Awards 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Liu Xiaobo (28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese intellectual, writer, human rights activist and a political prisoner in China. He has been President of the Independent Chinese PEN Center since 2003. On 8 December 2008, police stopped Liu and held him because of his work with Charter 08. He was not actually arrested until 23 June 2009. The government accused him of encouraging people to turn against the state. He had a trial on 23 December 2009. On 25 December 2009, the court decided he must go to prison for eleven years. The court also took away his political rights for two years. He won the Nobel Peace Prize on 8 October 2010, for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." This was during the fourth time Liu was in prison. He is the first Chinese person to win a Nobel Prize while living in China. He is also the third person to win the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention. The others were Germany's Carl von Ossietzky in 1935 and Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991. On 26 June 2017, he was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. He died a few weeks later on 13 July 2017. Contents Early life and education Human rights activities Time in prison Charter 08Writing the Charter and making it well-known Arrest Trial Sentence and imprisonment Events leading up to the prize
Prize announcement
Awards
Personal lifeHealth and death
Early life and education Liu was born in 1955 in Changchun, Jilin to an intellectual family. His father took him to the Inner Mongolia from 1969 to 1973 during the Down to the Countryside Movement. He worked in a village in Jilin province when he was 19 years old. He worked at a construction company after that. In 1976, he studied at Jilin University and got a B.A. degree in literature in 1982. He earned an M.A. degree in 1984 from Beijing Normal University. Liu joined the faculty at Beijing Normal University after he graduated. He also received a Ph.D. degree there in 1988. In the 1980s, his most important essays, Critique on Choices - Dialogue with Le Zehou and Aesthetics and Human Freedom' earned him fame in the academic field. The essay criticised a prominent Chinese thinker Li Zehou's philosophy. Between 1988 and 1989, he was a visiting scholar at several universities outside of China, including Columbia University, the University of Oslo and the University of Hawaii. During the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests he was in the United States but decided to go back to China to join the movement. He was later named as one of the "Four Junzis of Tiananman Square" by many Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based Chinese media. Human rights activities Liu Xiaobo works to increase human rights. He has asked the Chinese government to be more open and honest about its actions. The Chinese government has brought him to police stations, arrested him, and sent him to prison many times for his peaceful political activities. The first time was for his actions in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Organizations outside China have noticed Liu's human rights work and given him awards. In 2004, Reporters Without Borders honored Liu's human rights work, awarding him the Fondation de France Prize as a defender of press freedom. Time in prison In January 1991, Liu Xiaobo was convicted of "counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement." However, the government did not give him any punishment as a criminal. In October 1996, he was ordered to serve three years of labour for "disturbing public order" by criticizing the Communist Party of China. In 2007, police took Liu for a short time and asked him about articles he had written. The articles were posted on websites hosted outside China. Liu Xiaobo in prison On October 8, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the
Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 was being awarded to imprisoned Chinese
writer and dissident Liu Xiaobo “for his long and nonviolent struggle
for fundamental human rights in China.” The author of eleven books and
hundreds of essays, Liu has been a key figure in the Chinese democracy
movement since the events leading up to the 1989 Tiananmen Square
massacre. He was jailed in 1989–91 and again in 1996–99. His activi-
ties over the past decade included serving as president of the Indepen-
dent Chinese PEN Center and as editor of Democratic China magazine.
He was a principal drafter and a prominent signatory of Charter 08, a
document—modeled on Czechoslovakia’s Charter 77—calling for de-
mocracy and respect for human rights in China. (Substantial excerpts
from Charter 08, in an English translation by Human Rights in China,
were published in the “Documents on Democracy” section of the April
2009 issue of the Journal.)
Shortly before the Charter was officially released in December 2008,
Liu was detained by the Beijing Public Security Bureau. On 23 June
2009, he was formally arrested on charges of “inciting subversion of
state power.” Brought to trial in December, he was found guilty and
sentenced to eleven years of imprisonment. He is currently serving his
term at Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province, where his wife Liu Xia
was able to visit him and to convey the news that he had won the Nobel
Prize. Since then, however, the Chinese government, which has vigor-
ously denounced the award to Liu, has kept Liu Xia under house arrest
and is seeking to prevent her or any of Liu’s other relatives or friends
from leaving China for the prize ceremony, which is scheduled to take
place in Oslo, Norway, on December 10. It is not known whether Liu
will be able to issue any statement accepting the prize.
In the pages that follow, we present two of Liu’s most eloquent es-
says. Both were originally written in 2006 and posted in Chinese on the
website www.observechina.net. They both were translated into English
by Human Rights in China and published in issue no. 1, 2010, of its
quarterly journal China Rights Forum, along with other writings and
statements by Liu and a great deal of useful information about him and
his career. Interested readers can find this issue, entitled “Freedom of
Expression on Trial in China,” at www.hrichina.org/public/contents/
category?cid=173549. We are most grateful to Human Rights in China
for permission to reprint these essays, which appear here with very mi-
nor stylistic changes.
The first of these essays, entitled “Can It Be That the Chinese People
Time in prison
Reason
Result
June 1989 – January 1991
Charged with spreading messages to start actions that could become a revolution.
Imprisoned in one of China's maximum security prisons, Qincheng Prison, and let go when he signed a "letter of repentance."
May 1995 – January 1996
Being involved in democracy and human rights movement and speaking publicly about the need to correct government mistakes in the student protest of 1989
Released after being jailed for six months.
October 1996 – October 1999
Charged with disturbing the social order
Jailed in a labor education camp for three years. In 1996, he married Liu Xia.
December 2009–2020
Charged with spreading a message to overturn the country and authority
Sentenced for 11 years and deprived of all political rights for two years. Currently imprisoned in Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning Province.
Charter 08
Writing the Charter and making it well-known
Political protest in Hong Kong against the police keeping Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo actively participated in the writing of Charter 08. Then, along with more than three hundred Chinese citizens, he signed Charter 08. This was a manifesto, or statement of beliefs and principles. It was released on the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 2008). They wrote it in the style of the Czechoslovak Charter 77 calling for greater freedom of expression, human rights, and free elections. As of May 2009, the Charter has collected over 8,600 signatures from Chinese of various walks of life.
Arrest
Police took Liu Xiaobo away from his home late in the evening of 8 December 2008. This was two days before the official release of the Charter. Police also took away Zhang Zuhua at that time. He is another scholar who signed Charter 08. According to Zhang, the two men were taken by police because they thought Liu and Zhang were trying to get more people to sign the Charter. While Liu was kept alone in solitary confinement, he was not allowed to meet with his lawyer or family. He was allowed to eat lunch with his wife, Liu Xia, and two policemen on New Year's Day 2009. On 23 June 2009, an officer of the government in Beijing (the procuratorate) approved Liu Xiaobo's arrest on charges of "suspicion of inciting subversion of state power." This is a crime under Article 105 of the Law of the People's Republic of China. The Beijing Public Security Bureau (PSB) said in a press release that Liu had incited the subversion of state power and the overturn of the socialist system through methods such as spreading rumors and slander, using almost the exact words of Article 105. The Beijing PSB also said that Liu had "fully confessed."
Trial
On 1 December 2009, Beijing police transferred Liu's case to the procuratorate for investigation and processing; on 10 December, the procuratorate formally indicted Liu on charges of "inciting subversion of state power" and sent his lawyers, Shang Baojun and Ding Xikui, the indictment document. He was tried at Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court on 23 December 2009. His wife was not permitted to watch the trial, but his brother-in-law was there. Diplomats from more than 12 countries – including the U.S., Britain, Canada, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand – were not allowed in the court. They could not watch the trial. Some diplomats stood outside the court during the whole trial. Gregory May, political officer at the U.S. Embassy, and Nicholas Weeks, first secretary of the Swedish Embassy were among the diplomats who waited outside.
Sentence and imprisonment
On 25 December, Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment and two years' deprivation of political rights by the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate Court on charges of "inciting subversion of state power." According to Liu's family and counsel, he plans to fight this and ask for a new trial. The court said that Charter 08 was part of the evidence supporting his conviction.
China's political reform [...] should be gradual, peaceful, orderly and controllable and should be interactive, from above to below and from below to above. This way causes the least cost and leads to the most effective result. I know the basic principles of political change, that orderly and controllable social change is better than one which is chaotic and out of control. The order of a bad government is better than the chaos of anarchy. So I oppose systems of government that are dictatorships or monopolies. This is not 'inciting subversion of state power'. Opposition is not equivalent to subversion.
– Liu Xiaobo, Guilty of 'crime of speaking', 9 February 2010
In an article published in the South China Morning Post, Liu argued that the government had broken the rules of China's constitution and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by convicting him and sending him to prison. He said that he had not spread rumors or said very bad things about other people. The government had made up many things when accusing him of subversion. He had not lied, nor had he hurt the reputations of other people. He had only spoken his point of view and values.
The Internet
Changing the Regime by Changing Society
Liu Xiaobo
We have had over twenty years of reform, but due to the selfish ar-
rogation of political power by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and
the scattering of civic forces, in the short term I do not see any kind of
political force capable of changing the regime, or any liberal-minded
force within the circle of official authorities, like a Gorbachev 1 or a
Chiang Ching-kuo, 2 nor any way for civil society to build up political
power sufficient to rival official authorities. And so, China’s course of
161161Liu Xiaobo
transformation into a modern, free society is bound to be gradual and
full of twists and turns. The length of time it will take may surpass even
the most conservative estimates.
At the same time, in terms of opposition to the might of the CCP
regime, civil society remains weak, civic courage inadequate, and civic
wisdom immature; civil society is still in the earliest stages of develop-
ment, and consequently there is no way to cultivate in a short time a
political force adequate to the task of replacing the Communist regime.
In such a situation, change in China’s political system and its current
regime—any plan, program or even action seeking instant success—can
be no more than castles in the air.
Yet this does not mean that there is absolutely no hope for a future
free China. The sky of Chinese politics in the post-Mao era can no lon-
ger be single-handedly obscured by a totalitarian ruler; rather, it has as-
sumed two hues: darkness and light. Likewise, the relationship between
the officials and the people is no longer such that no one dares to speak
out, except to shout “Long live the emperor!” Rather, the political ri-
gidity of the authorities and the people’s awakening to their rights, and
official suppression and civil resistance exist side-by-side at the same
time. The system is autocratic as before, but the society is no longer ig-
norant; the officials are tyrannical as before, but the civil-rights defense
movements continue to arise; the terror of literary inquisition is still
there, but it can no longer produce the deterrent of “killing one to scare
the rest”; the regime’s “enemy awareness” is unchanged, but “politically
sensitive individuals” are no longer a terrifying “pestilence” shunned by
everyone.
In the Maoist era, for personal totalitarian control to be established,
four major conditions had to be met at the same time:
Comprehensive nationalization, leading to no personal economic au-
tonomy whatsoever, turning the regime into an all-powerful nanny of
our countrymen, and making them economically dependent on the re-
gime from cradle to grave;
All-pervasive organization, leading to the complete loss of personal
freedom, turning the organization into the sole authenticator of legal sta-
tus for our countrymen, who can hardly take a single step if they leave
the organization, and making them personally dependent on the regime
to the extent that without the shelter of the organization they have no
social license;
Rigid tyranny of the machinery of violent dictatorship imposed on the
entire social body; a dictatorial atmosphere created by an extreme rule
of one man and by an “enemy” mentality, where every citizen is made a
soldier; all-pervasive vigilance and ubiquitous monitoring, to the extent
that every pair of eyes is turned into surveillance equipment and ev-
ery person is under surveillance by his or her work unit, neighborhood
[committee], neighbors, and even relatives and friends.
162162 Journal of Democracy
Mental tyranny imposed on the entire nation by an ideology of for-
midable cohesive power and power to inspire, and by large-scale mass
movements, where the extreme personality cult and leadership authority
create a kind of mind-control with one brain deciding what everybody
thinks, and where artificially created “dissidents” are not just persecuted
economically, politically, and in terms of social status, but are also made
to suffer humiliation of character, dignity, and spirit—the so-called
“criticism until they drop and stink,” which is in fact a dual tyranny
that is both physical and mental to the extent that the great majority of
the victims succumbing to this mental tyranny engage in endless public
self-humiliation.
Yet, in the post-Mao era, the society entirely based on official author-
ity no longer exists. An enormous transformation toward pluralism in
society has already taken place, and official authority is no longer able
to fully control the whole society. The continuous growth of private cap-
ital is nibbling away at the regime’s economic foundation, the increas-
ingly disintegrated value system is challenging its ideology, persistently
expanding civil-rights protections are increasing the challenges to the
strength of the arbitrary authority of government officials, and steadily
increasing civic courage is making the effectiveness of political terror
wither by the day.
Since June Fourth [1989] especially, three of the four major pillars
necessary for the establishment of personal totalitarian rule have been
in various stages of decay and even collapse. Personal economic de-
pendence [on the regime] has gradually been replaced by personal in-
dependence, and the living made through one’s own efforts has given
individuals the material base for autonomous choices, while bringing a
plurality of interests to the society. Personal dependence on organiza-
tions has gradually been replaced by a smattering of personal freedom:
The Chinese people need no longer live in organizations for lack of
alternatives; the time when they could hardly take a step if they left the
organization is gone, never to return. Chinese society is gradually mov-
ing toward freedom of movement, mobility, and career choice.
In the ideological sphere, the awakening of individual consciousness
and awareness of one’s rights have led to the collapse of the one great
unified official ideology, and the diversification in the system of values
is forcing the government to look for excuses for the passive adjustments
of its ideology. A civic value system independent of the bureaucratic
value system is gradually taking shape, and although indoctrination with
lies and speech control continues, [the government’s] persuasive power
has significantly declined. The information revolution ushered in by the
Internet in particular has multiplied and diversified the channels of in-
formation access and civic discourse, causing the fundamental failure of
the means of control used by government authorities to block informa-
tion and prohibit political discussion.
163163Liu Xiaobo
Of the four pillars of totalitarian rule, only political centralization and
its blunt repression remain. However, because a social pattern where
righteousness and justice reside with civil society while power resides
with the authorities has gradually taken shape, the twofold tyranny of
the Maoist era—persecution of the flesh and trampling of the spirit—
is no more, and there has been a significant decline in the effective-
ness of political terrorism. As for [the] government[’s] persecution of
its victims, it no longer has the twofold effect of using prison to deprive
them of personal freedom and also using mass criticism to debase their
integrity and dignity. Political persecution may cause its victims to suf-
fer economic losses, may strip them of personal freedom, but it is un-
able to damage their social reputation, and even less able to place them
under the siege of social isolation; and therefore it cannot destroy their
integrity, dignity, or spirit. On the contrary, it has gradually turned into
a vehicle for advancing the moral stature of its victims, garnering them
honors for being the “civic conscience” or “heroes of truth,” while the
government’s hired thugs have become instruments that “do the dirty
work.” Not only do the majority of those persecuted no longer beg for-
giveness from the organization through endless self-criticism or under-
take public self-humiliation; on the contrary, most are able to inspire
reverence with their devotion to justice as they defend themselves in the
dock under great organizational pressure, putting the Communist Party
organization and courts into the moral position of defendants.
Meanwhile, following the collapse of the communist-totalitarian So-
viet Union and Eastern bloc, the global trend toward liberalization and
democratization has been gaining strength by the day. Pressure from
the human-rights diplomacy of mainstream nations and from interna-
tional human-rights organizations is making the cost of maintaining a
system of dictatorship and terror politics increasingly high, while the
effectiveness and the deterrent capacity of official persecution continue
to decline, forcing the current Chinese Communist regime to put on a
big “Human Rights Show” and “Democracy Show,” both in its domestic
governance and in its foreign response
In the past few years, Chinese civil organizations have become increasingly aware of the usefulness of Web sites for consolidat- ing information and human resources. The site set up by Liu Junning, Wang Yi, and Chen Yongmiao called “Pros and Cons of Constitutional Government,” for example, aims to prove a pub- lic forum for popular topics, bring independent intellectuals together and promote democratic constitutional reforms. Independent and secret workers’ and peasants’ organizations Large numbers of workers facing unemployment and severe
deprivations have begun to demand more independence and power for labor unions; peasants, too, have begun to call for independent agricultural unions. Although the Communist Party strictly suppresses independent labor and agricultural organiza- tions and uses official unions to impose top-down control, it has been unable to dam the rising tide of self-organized unions. A spate of localized demonstrations and protests is providing the impetus and foundation for union organization, while regional
protest movements are already taking on the aspect of fledgling unions, and have bred a new generation of labor leaders such as Yao Fuxin of the Liaoyang Worker’s Movement. In the countryside, the government’s heavy-handed methods of dealing with peasants and its inability to satisfy their demands for justice has led peasants to rely on their own strength and ingenuity to endure the unendurable. Under these
conditions, “peasant heroes” have emerged under whose leader- ship protest movements are developing in strength and number. In Renshou County of Sichuan Province, Zhang De’an led a coalition of peasants defying a corrupt faction in the county government that had set excessively high production quotas. Their cohesiveness, bravery and hard and protracted effort enabled them to overturn the production quotas, and their workload dropped to the lowest level in the past ten years. This kind of self-generated organization and struggle reveals the power and wisdom of ordinary people, and its result is far more meaningful than relying on the mercy of the rare virtuous offi- cial. The peasants’ awakening to their own rights indicates progress beyond the old feudal mentality — instead of waiting
Events leading up to the prize
On 18 January 2010, Liu was named by many people as a nominee (possible winner) of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. These included Václav Havel, the 14th Dalai Lama, André Glucksmann, Vartan Gregorian, and Desmond Tutu. China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ma Zhaoxu said that awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu would be "totally wrong". Geir Lundestad, a secretary of the Nobel Committee, stated the award would not be influenced by Beijing's opposition. On 25 September 2010, The New York Times reported that a petition in support of the Nobel nomination was being circulated in China. In September 2010 Václav Havel, Dana Němcová, and Václav Malý published an open letter in The International Herald Tribune calling for the award to be given to Liu. All three had been leaders of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution. Soon after, people began signing a petition.Freedom Now is a non-governmental organization and works as a lawyer for Liu Xiaobo outside China. On 6 October 2010, they publicly released a letter from 30 U.S. Members of Congress to President Barack Obama (the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner). This letter strongly asked President Obama to talk directly to Chinese President Hu Jintao at the G-20 Summit in November 2010. They wanted Obama to talk about Liu Xiaobo and another political prisoner named Gao Zhisheng .Prize announcement On 8 October 2010 the Nobel Committee awarded Liu the Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China". The Norwegian Nobel Committee president Thorbjørn Jagland said the choice of Liu as the recipient of the prize had become clear early on in the process. The Chinese foreign ministry had already warned the Nobel committee not to give Liu the prize. They said that it would be against Nobel principles.All news about the announcement of the award was immediately censored in China. Foreign news broadcasters including CNN and the BBC were immediately blocked after mentioning the award in China. Web searches for Liu Xiabo were immediately deleted and no information can be searched about him in China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement that said, "The Nobel Peace Prize is meant to award individuals who promote international harmony and friendship, peace and disarmament. Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law. Awarding the peace to Liu runs completely counter to the principle of the award and is also a desecration of the Peace Prize." The state-run Xinhua News Agency later carried a report saying that awarding Liu Xiaobo the prize “defiles” Alfred Nobel's purpose of creating this prize and "may harm China-Norway relations". The spokesperson added that Liu had broken Chinese law and his "actions run contrary to the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize." Awards Hellman-Hammett Grant (1990, 1996) China Foundation on Democracy Education (2003): Outstanding Democratic Activist Fondation de France Prize (2004): Award for Defending Freedom of Speech
Hong Kong Human Rights Press Awards (2004, 2005, 2006)
Homo Homini Award (2009)
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (2009)
Hermann Kesten Award (2010)
Nobel Peace Prize (2010)
Personal life
He is married to Liu Xia, who lives in the couple's apartment in Beijing.
Health and death
In May 2017, Liu was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. On 10 July 2017, Liu was listed in critical condition in hospital in Shenyang.
Liu died at a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning, China on 13 July 2017 of multiple organ failure as a set of complications of the disease at the age of 61.
