8/8/2019 In China, News About Nobel Winner Liu Xiaobo Is Scarce

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In China, News About Nobel Winner Liu Xiaobo Is ScarceBy Austin Ramzi, Beijing Monday, October 11th, 2010 www.time.com

Supporters of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo gatheroutside a park in Beijing on Oct. 8, 2010

Vincent Yu / AP

After imprisoned Chinese scholar Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize last week, this jokebegan to make the rounds of Chinese-language Twitter users: "I don't know who this Mr. Liuis, but as a Chinese, I'm very happy for a fellow citizen to win the Nobel Prize. He must beone of our great party members, a great official ... and a great leader who does great deedsfor his people."

Liu, or course, is neither an official nor a Communist Party member. He is a literary critic anda leader of the 1989 demonstrations in Beijing that were crushed by the Chinese military. In2008 he co-authored Charter 08, a manifesto calling for broad political reforms in China. Inthe eyes of the Chinese government, he is a criminal, and he is now serving an 11-yearsentence at a prison in northeast China for "inciting subversion of state power" in connectionwith Charter 08 and other essays he wrote.

His wife Liu Xia was allowed to meet with him on Sunday, Oct. 10, one day after Liu learned

from his jailers that he had won this year's prize. When Liu talked with his wife, he brokedown in tears and said the "award is for the Tiananmen martyrs," according to FreedomNow, a human-rights group that works to free political prisoners. Liu Xia has since beenplaced under house arrest herself; her phone is turned off, and she is unable to receivevisitors at her Beijing apartment.

Just as Liu Xiaobo learned of his Nobel Prize a day late, Chinese citizens now face a gap inlearning about who he is and why he was chosen. State media outlets initially offered onlythe briefest report, which quoted a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman who called Liu acriminal and said his award was "a blasphemy of the Peace Prize." On Sunday, the state-runXinhua news service denounced the Nobel Peace Prize as a "political tool." The GlobalTimes, a tabloid sharing ownership with the Communist Partyrun People's Daily, publisheda scathing attack on the Nobel Peace Prize over the weekend. "Good-hearted Chinesepeople have reason to suspect that the Nobel Peace Prize has been reduced to serve thepolitical tool of Western interests," the paper wrote in an editorial. "The people whomanipulate this award are unwilling to see China's peace and unity and hope that politicaldifferences will lead to endless political strife in Chinese society, causing a Soviet-stylebreakup."

On Chinese blogs and bulletin boards, Liu's name has largely been blocked, although newsof the Nobel has slipped through in some places. For the first few hours after the prize wasannounced, it was widely discussed on the Twitter-like service Sina Weibo beforeadministrators began to delete posts with Liu's name. The popular young Chinese writer Han

Han simply posted " " on his blog, presumably in reference to the widespread censorship.In Beijing, police showed a similar intolerance for a meeting of Liu Xiaobo supporters, whomet at a park on Friday, laminated cards depicting a glum-looking Liu hanging from their

8/8/2019 In China, News About Nobel Winner Liu Xiaobo Is Scarce

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necks. Once the news of his award was announced, they flipped the cards to reveal a photoof a happier Liu. They then went to a nearby restaurant to celebrate. "Everyone was happyand laughing," says Paul Mooney, an American freelance writer who attended the gathering.Soon after, about 40 police officers entered and, after a brief argument, dragged everyoneout. Of 17 people taken away, three remain in detention, Mooney says, citing He Yang, adocumentarian who was detained and released.

So far, the government's reaction has been fairly typical, says Nicholas Bequelin, a HongKongbased researcher for Human Rights Watch. "Putting dissidents under surveillance,censoring the Internet none of this is out of the ordinary. It's business as usual," he says."But after the top leaders take a decision, that's when we will see Beijing's real reaction tothis crisis."