Who Are and Who Are Not Attending the Nobel Ceremony

It is quite clear that Liu Xiaobo will not be able to make it to the ceremony of Nobel Peace Prize, neither could his wife Liu Xia. It is likely that, for the first time in the history of this award, an empty chair will represent the honoree.

In the diplomatic scene, the Chinese government was successful to persuade or pressure only 5 other countries to boycott the ceremony: Russia, Kazakhstan, Cuba, Morocco, and Irag. On the other hand, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be there to represent America, a very high-profile gesture.

Lynn Chang, a famous Chinese American violinist, will be performing at the ceremony. Also invited to perform was a children's choir from China, but they eventually declined for fear of repercussions. A children's choir from Norway will sing in their stead.

Former student Wang Dan expressed his regret for not being able to make the trip on his Facebook page today. He cited difficulty in schedule at the time of finals for the course he is teaching in Taiwan.

Another dissident who won't be there is Dai Qing, who previously had made a public announcement to attend the ceremony in support of Liu Xiaobo. She had the trip planed but then cancelled it after she learned that Wan Yanhai (万延海), another invitee on Liu Xia's list, will be able to make the trip. Dai Qing is now on her way back to China.

Wan Yanhai is an AIDS activist in China who has recently moved to US.

Zheng Cunzhu Back in Los Angeles

Former student leader Zheng Cunzhu who attempted to return to China with a valid Chinese passport is now back at Los Angeles. He was detained at the airport at Guangzhou for two days and never allowed to enter the custom there. Then he was put on a flight back to America.

Zheng Cunzhu said he was questioned and restricted to a single room during his two-day detention, but was not otherwise mistreated.

Former Student Leader Incommunicado Upon Returning to China

Zheng Cunzhu (郑存柱), a student leader during the 1989 movement, boarded a flight from Los Angles to Guangzhou, China, two days ago. He has not been heard since.

According to people who knew him, Zheng Cunzhu was a leader of the 1989 student movement while he was at Hefei, the capital of Anhui province. He later became a successful entrepreneur and arrived at United States on his own. He has been very actively involved in several pro-democracy organizations in the Los Angeles area.

His passport was going to expire and he knew that there is no chance for him to get a renewal from the Chinese embassy. Facing the possibility of becoming an exile without a country, he decided to return to China on the last day when his passport was still valid. He also wishes to call attention to the case of another dissident who was arrested on this day two years ago. At the time, Zheng Cunzhu had made a promise that he would want to accompany his friend in jail.

Wang Dan Encounters Bizarre Attack at Taiwan

While teaching at a university in Taiwan, 1989 student leader Wang Dan encountered a bizarre attack yesterday. Taipei Times described the scene that was confirmed by Wang Dan's own posting on his Facebook page:

Wang Dan (王丹), a prominent Tiananmen Square student leader who is currently a visiting associate professor in Taiwan, was nearly stabbed by a woman with a fruit knife while giving a lecture.

At about noon on Thursday, a woman believed to be in her early 30s barged into his classroom at National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu. She took out a knife and reportedly attempted to stab Wang, who was delivering a lecture on the history of the People’s Republic of China to a small group of students.

Struggling with the woman, Wang succeeded in seizing the knife before she could injure him.

“Her storming into the room left me no time to feel scared. I could only catch her and snatch the knife from her hand. It was an instinctive reaction,” Wang said.

Recalling the incident yesterday, Wang, who has experienced a number of politically volatile situations, said this was the first time he faced what looked like an attempt on his life.

Wang said he did not know the woman, he said has harassed him for three years.

About two years ago, Wang contacted police after the woman sent him threatening letters, but the authorities did not indict her, as she appeared to be a psychiatric patient, he said.

Wang said he did not seek police assistance even after the woman started showing up in his classroom or when he was attending public events accusing him of sending people to beat her.

Despite feeling deeply disturbed by the long series of incidents, Wang said he never expected the situation would degenerate into an attack on his person.

Although he is unable to file a lawsuit against the woman because she is mentally ill, Wang said he was considering canceling some public appearances.

The woman is now receiving psychiatric treatment, Wang said, adding that he might request police protection as she could attack him again if released.

Wang’s position at Tsing Hua is his second in Taiwan after he obtained his doctorate in history from Harvard University in 2008.

From September last year to February, Wang was a visiting associate professor teaching “the comparative study of state violence in the 1950s between Taiwan and China” at National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Dai Qing Announces Intention to Attend Nobel Ceremony

The question of who would be able to show up and accept the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is still up in the air weeks before the scheduled ceremony. It is almost certain that Liu Xiaobo himself, who is currently in jail, or his wife Liu Xia would not be able to make the trip. So much so that Liu Xia had issued an open invitation to their friends. Most on that list are currently under government surveillance and lost their freedom in China. Except perhaps for one.

That one is Dai Qing, a famous journalist and writer who had actively participated in the 1989 student movement (albeit in a somewhat controversial fashion). Dai Qing is also a fellow of the environmental organization Probe International and is on a cross-Canada speaking tour on its behalf. Therefore, she is not under the direct control of the Chinese government.

In an essay titled Liu Xia's Grand List, Dai Qing reflected on her feelings of the award and current state of human rights in China and went on to offer herself as the last resort of attending the ceremony:

Now Liu Xia’s Grand List is flying through cyberspace. Although the seats in the award ceremony hall are limited, people still hope that if Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia are ultimately not allowed to go, the Chinese authorities will allow their comrades to go.

I was honored to be included in Liu Xia’s Long List of “Xiaobo’s fellow friends.” In all fairness, I cannot compare with anyone else on the list in terms of my contribution or hardship in China’s struggle for modernization. I also cannot compare with the others in my personal relationship with Xiaobo: our face-to-face contact could be counted in only dozens of hours, not to mention that I have also written articles critical of him.

Like many Chinese citizens, it is painful and sad for me to see China’s foreign relations leading to so many conflicts. Compared with our current territorial and resource challenges and other pressing concerns, Xiaobo’s matter would seem to have an easy resolution: Release Xiaobo. Tell the world that in China, any citizen is free to propose ideas on national affairs to the government. If Liu Yunshan (China’s propaganda chief) believes this would cause the collapse of heaven and earth, then the authorities could just release Liu Xia, whose life for the past many years has been devoted to her poetry and photography.

If none of this takes place, there is still more than a month before the awards ceremony. The closest friends and comrades of the Laureate, who have been with him through all of the hardship, should be allowed to go to Oslo. But if the authorities ignore all these calls and no one on Liu Xia’s list is permitted to go abroad through the proper procedures, it happens that I am in Canada now for an academic conference.

To comfort Xiaobo in prison and Liu Xia under house arrest, and for all who are on Liu Xia’s list – those who are either under police surveillance or in custody or warned to behave during a forced “tea conversation with the police,” or worse, those “wearing a wig” (a term to describe those hooded and taken away by the security police) – then I shall tell the world that it is not true that no Chinese citizen who fights against authoritarianism will be able to attend the grand ceremony in Oslo. If necessary, I will go there to fulfill my duty to my friend.

Li Lu No Longer Candidate to Succeed Buffett

Wall Street Journal today reported that Warren Buffett has "tapped a little-known hedge fund manager as the leading candidate to succeed him as the chief investment officer of Berkshire Hathway Inc." The action means that the former 1989 student leader Li Lu, whose candidacy for the same position was much hyped only a couple of months ago, is no longer in the running:

Mr. Buffett says Mr. Li "decided he would prefer to be where he was. In effect he didn't want the job. I think he made a lot of money doing what he is doing and he has a very good position in life." Mr. Li has developed a close relationship with Charles Munger, Berkshire's 86-year old vice chairman, and manages a large portion of Mr. Munger's family's money that isn't in Berkshire.

Mr. Li said, "I've decided to stay where I am." He declined to elaborate further.

Li Lu was widely credited for bringing Buffet into a profitable investment in China's BYD. However, his fortune may also have suffered along with a series of setbacks by that company.

Document of 1989: Catch Liu Xiaobo's Black Hand

On June 24, 1989, 20 days after the Tiananmen Massacre, Beijing Daily published this article slandering Liu Xiaobo's involvement and motivation in participating in the 1989 student movement. It is a summary of the government's effort in pinpointing Liu Xiaobo as the black hand behind the movement. At the time, Liu Xiaobo was already in jail, waiting for his sentencing.

The "facts" presented in this article are not at all accurate.

The following is a translation. The original in Chinese can be read here.

Catch Liu Xiaobo's Black Hand

Wang Zhao

People still remember that, 12 days after the announcement of martial law in Beijing, at a time when martial law was gaining more and more understanding and support from the people through enormous amount of propaganda and explaining work and the students at the sit-in at Tiananmen Square saw their numbers dwindling daily and were hard to continue, on June 2, a farce was put on at Tiananmen Square: a four person hunger strike for 48 to 72 hours. The initiator of that hunger strike was Liu Xiaobo, a lecturer in the Department of Chinese of Beijing Normal University who had returned in a hurry from America at the start of this turmoil.

In the evening of June 1, Liu Xiaobo delivered a speech using loudspeakers at the gate of Beijing Normal University. He candidly said, "After I came back to this country, I had wholeheartedly plunged into this all-people democratic movement led by the students. I spent a dozen memorable days and nights with students at Tiananmen Square. Now the government again and again emphasizes the very few, very few people, the so-called a small clique. They meant for people like me who were not students. But I want to say, ..., I am not afraid of being a black hand. Rather, I am proud of and glorified for being a black hand!"

His words cannot be made any clearer. Now, let's take a look at how this black hand, in conjunction of the reactionary forces at home and abroad, reached the student movement at the capital and worked hard to fan the turmoil by examine Liu Xiaobo's actions in this student movement and the subsequent turmoil and rebellion.

Liu Xiaobo had been known as "Crazy Man", "Crazy Dog", and "Black Horse". Since 1986, he gained publicity by disapproving everything in China. After he obtained his doctor's degree in literature from Beijing Normal University on June 25, 1988, he went to visit Norway on August 24. After his three-month term was up, he went to America. Even before he went abroad, he was already thinking of publishing a series of anti-Communist Party, anti-People "heavy artillery bombs". But he hid them for fearing of jeopardizing his trip. Once abroad, he had no more concerns and published them one after another. His true face was exposed nakedly in the shock wave of the explosions of these "bombs".

In October, 1988, he published an article on Liberation Monthly in Hong Kong which stated, "the Marxism and Leninism in China is not a belief but rather a component of the tyrannical power. Marxism and Leninism is not a belief, but a tool for the rulers to enforce monopoly in thoughts." Therefore, he consistently aimed his attack at Marxism and Leninism. In the April, 1989, issue of Liberation Monthly, he wrote, "The criticism of Marxism and Leninism would turn directly into the criticism of the Oriental dictatorship." In November, 1988, on his way from Norway to America, he stopped by at Hong Kong. When he was interviewed by a reporter from Liberation Monthly, he even more presumptuously praised colonialism. Asked by the reporter under what condition China could have a true historical change, Liu Xiaobo shamelessly answered: "300 years of colonialism. Hong Kong becomes what she is today after being a colony for 100 years. China is so big, of course she will need 300 years of colonialism to become what Hong Kong is today. Is 300 years enough? I still have my doubts." To this, even the reporter couldn't help but saying, "that's absolutely traitorous." Liu Xiaobo answered: "I don't care about patriotism or traitorous. If you want to say I am a traitor, then I am a traitor. I can admit as being a horrible descendant who dug up the graves of my ancestors, and be proud of it." His leading opinions, however, were the four "replacements" in an article on the November, 1988, issue of Liberation Monthly. He wrote: "The only way is to have a democratic system with the coexistence of multiple parties replace the one-party dictatorship, have private ownership and market economy replace the public ownership and planned economy, have diversified ideas and freedom of thoughts replace unified thoughts, and have world [western] modern culture replace Chinese traditional culture." Here, Liu Xiaobo brought forward a systematic and wholesome opinion in overthrowing the socialist republic with a bourgeois republic.

At the end of 1988, Liu Xiaobo reached America and immediately connected with the reactionary organization "Chinese Democracy Alliance" which is headquartered at New York City and whose mission is to "abolish the 'four cardinal principles' in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China," and "fundamentally change the current tyrannical system in China." They joined forces to look for opportunities in making their moves. Throughout this year, from the time when Fang Lizhi et al issued open letter on behalf of Wei Jingsheng to the student movement in the name of memorizing Comrade Hu Yaobang, they had always paid close attention, studied diligently, and acted with coordination. As soon as the student movement in the capital broke out, Liu Xiaobo thought his time had arrived and could no longer wait and rushed to the front line.

This Fascist follower who had always proclaimed "I admire Hitler most" now suddenly appeared with a face of "Democracy Fighter". In March 1989, he participated in a signature drive for "defending human rights" and supporting Fang Lizhi's open letter demanding for the release of Wei Jingsheng. In April, after the student movement broke out in the capital, the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Daily announced a piece of news on April 20, revealing that Liu Xiaobo, along with the head of the reactionary organization "Chinese Democracy Alliance" Hu Ping and activist Chen Jun, published a so-called "Suggestions for Reform", "expressing their concerns to the current student movement in the mainland". They suggested to "reevaluate" the "anti-Spiritual Pollution movement in 1983" and the "anti-Bourgeois Liberalization movement in 1987", to "amend the Constitution" and remove the Four Cardinal Principles "from the Constitution". On April 22, Liu Xiaobo published an article "Reflections on Phenomena after Hu Yaobang's Death" in World Journal, concentrating his attacks on China's socialist system as "autocratic system", advocating for the student movement to "abandon the reforming mode of looking for enlightened rulers and try to open a path that can change China at the system level." How should this path be? Liu Xiaobo openly cried out for joining forces with reactionaries abroad. He said, "if the students and those intellectuals who pursue democracy could, at the same time they openly support the enlightened faction within the Party, openly support Wei Jingsheng and so on and the China Spring abroad, it would definitely speed up the democratization of China." Here, China Spring is a reactionary magazine published by the "Chinese Democracy Alliance" supported by the Nationalist Party in Taiwan. He incited, "Tyranny is not scary. What is scary is to yield to, silence at, and praise for tyranny. (see Liberation Monthly, April, 1984.) We observed that, the student movement in the capital quickly adopted slogans demanding reevaluation for the victims of anti-spiritual pollution and anti-Bourgeois Liberalization movements and the "Down With Tyranny" banners showed up in the student marches. This of course was not a coincidence.

People still remember that, on April 26, as the student movement in Beijing was facing a crossroad, a poster titled "An Open Letter to Chinese Students" showed up on the Triangle at Peking University. The letter encouraged the movement, saying that the students' activities "had already influenced China's present and without question it will also influence China's future." It also provided 7 suggestions, advising organizers of the movement to "solidify the contacts between organizations already established", "publish their own newsletters and other materials", "enhance contacts with other facets of the society (including workers, peasants, city residents, and intellectuals)", "appeal for their support and participation", "fulfill the freedom inside campuses" including "establishing various independent social clubs" and "solidifying freedom of expression (democracy wall, big posters, scholastic lectures and debates, etc.)", and "be prepared to act from publishing big posters to march and strikes." The vast majority of these suggestions had been adopted in the student movements and turmoil later. This open letter was drafted by Liu Xiaobo on April 22 in New York City and co-signed by 10 members of the "Chinese Democracy Alliance" including Hu Ping and Chen Jun. It was published in American newspapers and then faxed immediately back to Beijing.

Perhaps Liu Xiaobo realized that it would not be real effective to manipulate the student movement from overseas. So he accepted an order from "Chinese Democracy Alliance" and hurried back to Beijing from New York City on April 27. Earlier, Liu Xiaobo had written to his employer, the Department of Chinese at Beijing Normal University, stating that he had been invited to visit Columbia University and would not be back until 1990. Yet when that letter arrived at Beijing Normal University in early May, he himself was already at Tiananmen Square. Kind-hearted people may ask if he had hurried back to join the activities to commemorate Comrade Hu Yaobang. The answer is absolutely not. He had made this clear in one of his articles in World Journal: "When I heard the news of Hu Yaobang's death, I felt nothing but indifference." His sudden return was absolutely for the purpose of directly manipulating the student movement. It was known that, before his trip back, Liu Xiaobo had talked with Hu Ping for many times on the Beijing student movement. As Liu Xiaobo was leaving, Chen Jun made a specific phone call to Beijing's Stone Corp. to inform them of Liu Xiaobo's flight number and ask Stone to meet him at the airport. He instructed that, if Liu Xiaobo was arrested at the airport, they must immediately pass the news to the "Chinese Democracy Alliance". From this one can clearly see how much stake the "Chinese Democracy Alliance" had put on Liu Xiaobo.

According to sources, as soon as Liu Xiaobo came back to Beijing, he contacted his good friend, the head of the "Beijing Students Autonomous Federation" Wuer Kaixi as well as Wang Dan and others. He handed them and the "Beijing Normal University Students Autonomous Federation" thousands of American dollars and more than ten thousands of Renminbi, so-called donated by him and Wang Bingzhang (former head of "Chinese Democracy Alliance" and the head of newly formed "Chinese Democratic Party"), as funds for the student movement. Afterwards, Liu Xiaobo eagerly participated in the propaganda, writing, lecturing, and fund raising activities of the Beijing Students Autonomous Federation headquarters at Tiananmen Square.

Besides being in charge of the "Sound of Square" broadcasting station's solicitation, editing and speech-delivering, he was also responsible for the preparation of the illegal organization "Joint Capital Conference". When some people among the hunger strike students at the Square expressed wish to withdraw from the strike, Liu Xiaobo threatened, "You will be a traitor if you walk away now. We have no way to back down!"

During this time period, Liu Xiaobo was very busy. He drafted and circulated "Open Letter to Beijing Normal University Party Committee", "Open Letter to Oversea Chinese and all Foreigners who Care about China" and so on, continue to confuse people as all he could. After martial law was implemented in Beijing, Liu Xiaobo even sped up his criminal activities. On May 23, a reactionary pamphlet titled "Our Suggestions" showed up all over Beijing and at Tiananmen Square, the center of the turmoil. The pamphlet gained much publicity and was regarded by some as "the guiding principle for the student movement". This pamphlet slandered our legal government elected by the National People's Congress as "puppet government", cried that "puppet government must resign, Li Peng must step down", distorted the martial law in Beijing as "military rule", called for a "whole-society mobilization" to "crumble the military rule", encouraged "workers in the state-owned enterprises" to form "independent unions that truly represent workers' interests", incited "private enterprises" to public demand "the complete privatization" so that "property rights can be clearly belong to private persons". He also deliberately provoked the cooperative relationship between the "eight democratic parties" and the Communist Party, attempting to force them abandoning the leadership of Communist Party and "plan to publicly demand the government for the rights to participate in policy making and become true, independent democratic parties". We have now ascertained that this counter-revolutionary declaration, published in the name of the illegal organization "Beijing Normal University Students Autonomous Federation" and aimed to overthrow the leadership of Chinese Communist Party and China's socialist system, was absolutely not written by Beijing Normal University students. It was Liu Xiaobo's writing. From this we can clearly see how close between the black hand Liu Xiaobo and the student movement and turmoil in Beijing.

As the situation developed, more and more people saw the true nature of the turmoil. Many students withdrew from Tiananmen Square. A large amount of students from outside Beijing returned to their own schools. The relationship between Beijing residents and the martial law troops of the People's Liberation Army was increasingly friendly. The situation was turning for the better. But the small clique of behind-the-scene conspirators and manipulators were not satisfied for such an end. Hooligans in society and all the reactionary forces did not want a return to peace either. Their dream of against the Party, against the socialist system and against the people died hard. They wanted to fight to death. With this situation, a frustrated Liu Xiaobo jumped onto the center stage from behind the curtain. After he failed to motivate students to continue hunger strike and organize 1000 to 5000 famous people for hunger strike, he got two employees of the Stone Corp., plus a song writer, and came to Tiananmen Square with great fanfare himself to start a so-called 48 to 72 hour limited hunger strike. Not only did they encourage some students and residents to stay at Tiananmen Square, worsen the situation and put new life in the turmoil with their action, they also called for rebellion. In a speech on June 1, Liu Xiaobo pointed stated: "With our action, I hope to end the thousand year history of Chinese intellectuals' all-words-but-no-action tradition of osteomalacia." He wanted his followers to drop the "osteomalacia" and abandon the "all-words-but-no-action" habit. What did they want to do? Liu Xiaobo made it clear with his words. At the end of the speech, he cried out, "Under today's white terror, we stood out so that we could once again awaken the confidence of all Beijing residents. We are able and we are confident to decide for China!" How do they use "action" to "decide for China" then? According to a newspaper in Hong Kong, he had said in a dialogue with "a mainland leader of democracy movement" that we "must organize armed forces within the people". If kind people still has doubts on their conspiracy in organizing counter-revolutionary rebellion, please listen to that dialogue by Liu Xiaobo.

History does not change its course by the will of reactionaries. The "decide for China" cry of Liu xiaobo et al is nothing but an empty dream. People, only people, are the master of this land of China.

Documents of 1989