Liu Xiaobo

 

Liu Xiaobo was a Writer, Chinese Literary Critic, Philosopher, Human Rights Activist, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who called for political reforms. He was born on December 28, 1955, in Changchun City, Jilin Provine, China. Liu first became prominent in the 1980s as a literary critic outside China. He eventually became a visiting scholar at several international universities.  

Since returning to China to support the Tiananmen Square movement in 1989, he has been imprisoned several times—from 1989 to 1991, from 1995 to 1996, and from 1996 to 1999. All of these have been justified by his alleged involvement in the subversion of the Chinese state. He served as the President of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, from 2003 to 2007. PEN International is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and international cooperation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous International PEN centers in more than 100 countries. Liu advocated for the Westernization of China and the rejection of Chinese traditional culture. He desired to use the West to reform China.

Liu broadly supported American militarisation and President George W. Bush's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, 2003 invasion of Iraq, and subsequent reelection. Liu also supported other American interventions in the Middle East alongside the Vietnam and Korean Wars. He commented on Islamism that a culture and religious system that produced the threat of Islamic Fundamentalism must be inherently intolerant and bloodthirsty.

After this period of intermittent imprisonment, Liu served in various roles related to his activist work in media organizations. Then in 2008, he was detained again for his involvement in the Charter 08 manifesto. On 25 December 2009, he was sentenced to eleven years imprisonment for this. While imprisoned at this point Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

Liu was the first Chinese citizen to receive a Nobel Prize residing in China. He died of liver cancer on the 13th of July 2017 (aged 61) while on medical parole.