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Liu Xiaobo was one of the few lucky enough Soon after becoming a teacher, his
to be born into a family of academically works of literature and thought
gifted people, both of his parents were teach- caught the attention of many, “I
ers at universities in China, later becoming was a public intellectual, writing
one himself. Even with this privilege, he saw articles and books that created
a society that refused to acknowledge peo- quite a stir during the 1980s.” He
ple’s freedoms. Liu Xiaobo contributed to the was renowned as a “dark horse”
political reformation of the overwhelming for these radical opinions, com-
power of the communist one-party system pletely disrupting China’s conser-
and his participation in advancing human vative society. He participated in
rights in China. His critiques of China’s polit- the 1989 Movement which is well
ical system and advocation of human rights known for the number of protester
led him to be detained, put under house arrest deaths, in which he advanced the
and sent to a labour camp. During and be- shocked society by speaking about
tween those trying times, Liu wrote about the events that occurred there.
human rights and the prevalent political con- Throughout his life, he served four
cerns. Before he became known for his heroic prison terms for speaking his
deeds, Xiaobo had a thriving academic career. mind.

                     
         
    
   
    
    

 
          
          
  
                  
      
                    
  
            
                   
       
               
  
                      
  
      

   
  
  
 
 
               
     
     
         
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“In the course of my life, for more than
half a century, June 1989 was the major
turning point,” states Liu. The moment
he speaks of is the 1989 Tiananmen
Square Incident or June Fourth Inci-
dent. These were a series of student-led
protests held in Beijing in favour of
economic liberalization, democracy,
freedom of the press and speech, politi-
cal reform, and the rule of law. Eventu-
ally, military action was taken leaving
protesters harmed or dead, “Estimates
of the death toll vary from several hun-
dred to several thousand, with thou-
sands more wounded.” Xiaobo was in
the United States at the time but went
back to China to participate in this
movement through hunger strikes with
other intellectuals and prominent social
figures.
During the clearing of the square after at-
tacks from the military, the several thou-
sand remaining protesters gathered at the
Monument to the People’s Heroes at the
center of the Square. There they were
threatened and in return the students
brought out a rife, later being persuaded
not to use it and Liu Xiaobo smashed the
ammunition against the monument. The
events of Tiananmen Square impacted Liu
greatly, “Twenty years have passed, but
the ghosts of June Fourth have not yet
been laid to rest.” After this unfortunate
event, Liu Xiaobo was arrested under the
pretenses of “the crime of counter‑revolu-
tionary propaganda and incitement,” ac-
cording to his essay I Have No Enemies:
My Final Statement meant to be read at
his trial in 2009.

…     „ 
   „  †  
While in prison in 2010, Liu received a Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and
non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China." Liu was the
first Chinese citizen to win a Nobel Prize of any kind while still living in
China.