'To Bless All Mankind' April 27, 2015 Issue

Love from China’s famed dissident

The Monitor’s Editorial Board

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, December 11, 2014.

China’s most famous political dissident, Liu Xiaobo, has now served nearly half of an 11-year prison sentence. He was convicted of “subversion” in 2009 after calling for an end to one-party rule. In 2010, when he won the Nobel Peace Prize but was not allowed to attend the ceremony in Oslo, an empty chair was put in his place. For five years, silence surrounded this once-prolific writer. Until recently.

A friend in Germany, fellow writer Liao Yiwu, was able to obtain this message from Mr. Liu: “I am O.K. Here in prison, I have continually been able to read and think. In my studies, I have become even more convinced I have no personal enemies.”

That Liu still holds no animosity toward his jailers or the Communist Party officials who suppress both him and his writings is a testament to his final words given at his court sentencing:

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