Steel Gate to Freedom: The Life of Liu Xiaobo

(Hardback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

On December 10, 2010, on stage in Oslo City Hall, an empty chair sat before more than one thousand people, holding only the medal and diploma of the years Nobel Peace Prize winner. A larger-than-life photo of a smiling Liu Xiaobo hung in the background. This striking image is now known throughout the world. But who is Liu Xiaobo For the first time, this biography by renowned Chinese author and close friend Yu Jie offers a first-hand look into the man behind the empty chair. Dissident, prisoner, poet, scholar, Liu was compelled by intolerable circumstances to embark on a campaign of intellectual dissent, becoming in the course of his journey a leading human rights activist and one of the most important political figures in modern history. In the quarter century since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, Liu has been unable to lead a normal life. In this first authorized biography, Yu traces an extraordinary mans odyssey, from growing up in the northeast and Inner Mongolia during the Cultural Revolution, through his meteoric rise in Beijings intellectual circles and his pivotal role in the Tiananmen protests and subsequent imprisonments, to the founding of the controversial Independent Chinese PEN and groundbreaking Charter 08, his poignant relationship with wife Liu Xia, and winning the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. It is also a love story between two poets who, though separated by three hundred miles and eleven years behind bars, are united in their persistence to speak truth to power, inspiring countless others.

Reviews

Political exile Yu presents the unvarnished biography of fellow activist Liu in this intimate portrait of the man "labeled the black hand' behind the Tiananmen student protests." Born during the Cold War, Liu's family's "dining table was a battleground" and his interest in writing began with membership in the Intellectual Youth; by 1984 he'd become a lecturer with a significant following. In diaristic form, Yu relates how Liu became involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and how he was arrested for his leading role. Liu was released but was arrested twice more in the 1990s. In 2003 he helped found the Independent PEN China Center and served as its president until 2007. Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, but was unable to collect it as he was once again arrested, this time for his role in writingalong with Yu and othersa 2008 manifesto, Charter 08, which called for a multiparty system in China. Liu remains imprisoned, but Yu notes that the Internet has offered a way for Liu to communicate with the outside world and continue his political work. * Publishers Weekly *
[Steel Gate to Freedom: The Life of Liu Xiaobo is] the only full-length biography of Liu, portraying him as a complex figuredevoted to political reform, idealistic, and unremittingly self-critical.... In these colorful and closely reported chapters, we see the daily rituals that held [Liu Xiaobos and Liu Xias] lives together. * New York Review of Books *
This personal, affectionate, but also critical portrait of the famous dissident and Nobel Laureate provides rich new details on his childhood, personal life, professional relationships, and prison experiences. Above all, it traces the gradual development of Lius political convictions and the personal philosophy that has made him such a respected leader, eloquent spokesman, and enduring symbol of the Chinese peoples yearning for freedom. -- Andrew J. Nathan, Class of 1919 Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
This is a match made in heaven: Liu Xiaobo could never find a more diligent biographer than Yu Jie. And Yu Jie could never find a more compelling subject than Liu Xiaobo. Yus portrayal of Lius life not only covers his past but also looks toward the future and his struggle to create a new world: a beautiful story that has yet to be written. The Liu Xiaobo that Yu Jie portrays here is not a distant saint, but rather a real human being who comes to life in these pages. -- Yu Ying-shih, Emeritus, Princeton University
Although we never met, I counted my fellow Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo as a friend, admiring his courage in pushing China toward political, legal, and constitutional reforms. It is important that the free world not forget him and other prisoners of conscience for exercising their freedom of expression.
To most people who have heard of Liu Xiaobo, the name means only one or another famous persona: star professor, imprisoned enemy of the state, or Nobel Laureate. In this lively and insightful book, Yu Jie, a long-time personal friend, reveals Liu as a human being in daily life: idealistic and ornery at the same time, addicted to his appetites, inveterately critical of both himself and others, always on the move, incapable of insincerity, and prodigiously intelligent. The best biography available in a Western language, this book should be read by all serious China watchers. -- Perry Link, University of California, Riverside

Author Bio

Yu Jie is an award-winning writer, one of Chinas most prominent essayists and critics, and a leading democracy activist and coauthor of Charter 08. His work has been banned in China since 2004, and he was arrested and tortured in 2010 for his close ties with Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo. Because of Yu's work on this biography, he was subjected to lengthy house arrest, as well as to kidnap and torture. A senior official in the Beijing security apparatus threatened Yu with a harsh prison sentence if he proceeded with his plans to publish. Yu had no choice but to leave China, bringing his wife and son with him to the United States in 2012. HC Hsu is the author of Love Is Sweeter (2013) and Middle of the Night (2015). An award-winning essayist and short-story writer, his works have appeared in both English and Chinese. His translations of Hu Lancheng, Chu Tien-wen, Chen Kehua, Yuan Chiung-chiung, and others also have been widely published.