Publisher's Synopsis
Foreword: Tyranny Is Not Terrible, What Is Terrible Is Submission, Silence Or Praise To Tyranny Liu XiaoboOn December 28, 1955, six years after the Communist Party of China established its regime, Liu Xiaobo was born into an intellectual family in Changchun City, Jilin Province. That was the era as China's "the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" emerged.Regarding the Cultural Revolution, Liu Xiaobo recalled: "I am very grateful for the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. I was a kid at that time and I could do whatever I wanted." "Schools were closed, and I could temporarily get rid of the education process, do what I want, and play. Go to war, I had a great time."Beginning in 1984, for several consecutive years, Liu Xiaobo published "On Artistic Intuition", "A New Aesthetic Trend", "Inevitable Reflection-Talking from Several Novels About Intellectuals", "Crisis! Literature in the new era is facing a crisis!", Let the "Liu Xiaobo Phenomenon" that shook the literary world first show its brilliance and arouse repercussions among young students.Liu Xiaobo developed from literary criticism to ideological and cultural criticism, and became the spokesperson of irrationalism and anti-traditional thoughts. In 1987, Liu Xiaobo published his famous work "A Critique of Choice-A Dialogue with Li Zehou" and in 1988, after publishing his doctoral dissertation "Aesthetics and Human Freedom", he became a Ph.D. in literature and applied for a lecturer in the Chinese Department of Beijing Normal University. After all, he surrendered to the educational program system which he opposed throughout his life. On April 15, 1989, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Hu Yaobang passed away. Colleges and universities in Beijing and across the country held mourning activities, and even developed into a large-scale street protest movement. Liu Xiaobo immediately responded and participated in the support activities of overseas Chinese students and visiting scholars.On April 20th, Liu Xiaobo issued a "Reform Proposal" urging the Chinese Communist Party to reflect on and correct its mistakes, requesting a re-examination of the issues related to the 1983 "Clear Spiritual Pollution" movement and the 1987 "Anti-Bourgeois Liberalization" movement, and advocated the protection of basic human rights Articles, open private newspapers, prohibit convictions for words, and truly implement freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of the press.On April 22, Liu Xiaobo published "Reflections on Hu Yaobang's Death Phenomenon" in the "World Journal", drafting an "Open Letter to Chinese University Students", criticizing China's socialist system as an "autocratic regime". He tried to find a way to reform China from the system.However, in the June 4th Tiananmen Incident that broke out on June 4, 1989, Liu Xiaobo was arrested for participating in student movement activities and was forced to "testify" on CCTV that he "has not seen the army kill people on Tiananmen Square." What is embarrassing is that he still can't escape the end of being expelled from public office after all. [...]
