by Liu Xiaobo
16. The confession of Defendant Liu Xiaobo shows: Liu Xiaobo has confessed that he used computers to write the aforementioned articles and to post them on Internet websites. The confession of Liu Xiaobo and the aforementioned evidence are mutually corroboratory.
17. A case log supplied by Public Security organs shows: The Public Security Bureau of Beijing City detained Liu Xiaobo at no. 502, Unit One, Building 10, Bank of China apartments, Seven Sages Village, Haidian District, Beijing City on the night of December 8, 2008.
18. Criminal Verdict IC no. 2373 (1990) of the former Intermediate People’s Court of Beijing City and the Reeducation-Through-Labor Decision JLS no. 3400 (1996) of the Reeducation-Through-Labor Management Committee of the People’s Government of Beijing City show: On January 26, 1991, Liu Xiaobo was exempted from criminal punishment for the crime of counterrevolutionary incitement; on September 26, 1996, he was directed to undergo three years of reeducation-through-labor for disturbing social order.
19. Material for certifying identity supplied by Public Security organs shows: the name, address, and other aspects of the identity of Defendant Liu Xiaobo.
Judgment
It is the judgment of this court that Defendant Liu Xiaobo, with the goal of overthrowing the state power of the People’s Democratic Dictatorship and the socialist system of our country, took advantage of the Internet, with its features of rapid transmission, broad reach, large influence on society, and high degree of public notice, and chose as his means the writing of articles and posting them on the Internet to do slander and to incite others to overthrow state power and the socialist system in our country. His actions have constituted the crime of incitement to subvert state power, have persisted through a long period of time, and show deep subjective malice. The articles that he posted, which spread widely through links, copying, and visits to websites, had a despicable influence. He qualifies as a criminal whose crimes are severe and deserves heavy punishment according to law. The facts adduced by Branch No. 1 of the People’s Procuratorate of Beijing in charging Defendant Liu Xiaobo with the crime of incitement of subversion of state power are clear; its evidence is accurate and ample, and its charges are well founded.
With regard to the reply offered at trial by Defendant Liu Xiaobo and the defense arguments of his legal counsel, examination has shown that the facts and evidence verified at this trial already prove overwhelmingly that Liu Xiaobo took advantage of the media characteristics of the Internet and used the means of publishing slanderous articles on the Internet to carry out actions of incitement of subversion of the state power and the socialist system of our country. Liu Xiaobo’s actions have exceeded the scope of freedom of speech and constitute crimes. Therefore the aforementioned reply offered at trial by Defendant Liu Xiaobo and defense arguments of his legal counsel both are inadequate and are not accepted by this court.
Based on the facts, nature, circumstances, and degree of social harm of the crimes of Defendant Liu Xiaobo, this court, in accordance with Section 2 of Article 105, Section 1 of Article 55, Section 1 of Article 56, and Article 64 of the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China, rules as follows:
1. The Defendant Liu Xiaobo has committed the crime of incitement to subvert state power and is sentenced to eleven years in prison plus the deprivation of political rights for two years. The prison term is calculated from the day of sentencing. (Days in custody prior to sentencing reduce the sentence by one day for one day, which means the term extends from June 23, 2009, to June 21, 2020.)
2. The items submitted with this case that Liu Xiaobo used in committing his crimes are confiscated. If the verdict of this court is not accepted, it may be appealed either through this court or by direct application to the High People’s Court of Beijing City within ten days of the day following its receipt. Written appeals should be supplied in one original and two copies.
Chief Judge: Jia Lianchun
Associate Judge: Zheng Wenwei
Associate Judge: Zhai Changxi
December 25, 2009
Original text available at http://news.Sina.com.hk.news
Translated by Perry Link
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS BY LIU XIAOBO
Xuanze de pipan: Yu Li Zehou duihua [Criticizing choice: A dialogue with Li Zehou]. Shanghai: Shanghai renmin chubanshe, 1987. Republished as Xuanze de pipan: Yu sixiangjia Li Zehou duihua [Criticizing choice: A dialogue with the thinker Li Zehou]. Taibei: Taiwan fengyunshidai chubanshe, 1989.
Shenmei yu ren de ziyou [Aesthetics and human freedom]. Beijing: Beijing shifandaxue chubanshe, 1988. (A published version of Liu’s PhD dissertation.)
Xingershang xue de miwu [The fog of metaphysics]. Shanghai: Shanghai renminchubanshe, 1989.
Chishenluoti, zouxiang shangdi [Walking naked toward God]. Changchun: Shidai wenyi chubanshe, 1989.
Sixiang zhi mi yu renlei zhi meng [The enigma of thought and the dreams of humanity]. Taibei: Taiwan fengyunshidai chubanshe, 1989 and 1990. 2 volumes.
Zhongguo dangdai zhengzhi yu Zhongguo zhishifenzi [Contemporary Chinese politics and Chinese intellectuals]. Taibei: Tangshan chubanshe, 1990. Translated and published in Japanese as Gendai Chūgoku chishikijin hihan [A critique of contemporary Chinese intellectuals]. Tokyo: Tokuma Bookstore, 1992.
Mori xingcunzhe de dubai [Monologues of a survivor of doomsday]. Taibei: Shibao wenhua chubanqiye gongsi, 1992.
Liu Xiaobo Liu Xia shixuan [Selected poems of Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia]. Hong Kong: Xiafeier guoji chubangongsi, 2000.
Meiren zeng wo menghanyao [A beauty gives me a knockout drug]. Co-authored with Wang Shuo, with Liu Xiaobo writing under the pen name Lao Xia. Wuhan: Changjiang wenyi chubanshe, 2000.
Xiang liangxin shuohuang de minzu [A nation of people who lie to their consciences]. Taibei: Taiwan jieyou chubanshe, 2002.
Weilai de ziyou Zhongguo zai minjian [A free China of the future will emerge from the people]. Washington, D.C.: Laogai Research Foundation, 2005.
Danren dujian: Zhongguo minzuzhuyi pipan [Single-edged poison sword: A critique of Chinese nationalism]. Flushing, N.Y.: Broad Press, 2006.
Daguo chenlun: Xie gei Zhongguo de beiwanglu [The sinking of a great nation: Memorandum for a future China]. Taibei: Yunchen wenhua chubanshe, 2009.
Niannian liusi: Liu Xiaobo shiji [June Fourth on my mind: A collection of Liu Xiaobo’s poems]. Hong Kong, 2009.
Liu Xiaobo wenji [Collected essays of Liu Xiaobo]. Edited by Liu Xia, Hu Ping, and Liao Tianqi. Hong Kong: Xinshiji chubanshe, 2010.
La philosophie du porc et autres essais [Philosophy of the pig and other essays]. Edited by Jean-Philippe Béja. Paris: Gallimard, 2011.
Zhuiqiu ziyou [Pursuing freedom]. Washington, D.C.: Laogai Research Foundation, 2011.
BOOKS ON LIU XIAOBO AND HIS WORK
Bei Ling. Der Freiheit geopfert [Surrendering oneself for freedom]. Munich: Riva Verlag, 2011.
Chen Kuide and Xia Ming, eds. Ziyou jingguan: Liu Xiaobo yu Nobeier heping jiang [A crown of thorns for freedom: Liu Xiaobo and the Nobel Peace Prize]. Hong Kong: Chenzhong shuju, 2010.
Hong Bin, ed. Liu Xiaobo mianmianguan [The many sides of Liu Xiaobo]. Hong Kong: Posi chubanshe, 2010.
Li Xiaorong and Zhang Zuhua, eds. Ling-ba xianzhang [Charter 08]. Hong Kong: Kaifang chubanshe, 2009.
Link, Perry. Liu Xiaobo’s Empty Chair: Chronicling the Reform Movement Beijing Fears Most. New York: New York Review of Books eBook Original, 2011.
Liu Yanzi, ed. Ten’anmon jiken kara ’08 kenshō e [From the Tiananmen incident to Charter 08]. Tokyo: Fujiwara Bookstore, 2009.
Miller, Frederic P., Agnes F. Vandome, and John McBrewster, eds. Liu Xiaobo. Beau Bassin, Mauritius: Alphascript, 2010.
Yu Jie. Liu Xiaobo dabai Hu Jintao [Liu Xiaobo defeats Hu Jintao]. Hong Kong: Chenzhong shuju, 2010.
Yu Jie. Liu Xiaobo yu Hu Jintao de duizhi: Zhongguo zhengzhi tizhi gaige wei he tingzhi? [A standoff between Liu Xiaobo and Hu Jintao: Why has the reform of China’s political system stagnated?] Hong Ko
ng: Chenzhong shuju, 2009.
Zheng Wang and Ji Kuai, eds. Liu Xiaobo qiren qishi [Liu Xiaobo: The man and his works]. Beijing: Zhongguo qingnian chubanshe, 1989.
Zhongguo xinxi zhongxin. Ling-ba xianzhang yu Zhongguo biange [Charter 08 and China’s restructuring]. Washington, D.C.: Zhongguo xinxi zhongxin, 2009.
WEBSITES ON LIU XIAOBO
http://www.liuxiaobo.eu/
http://blog.boxun.com/hero/liuxb/
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to Geremie Barmé, Jean-Philippe Béja, Hu Ping, Li Xiaorong, Tienchi Martin-Liao, Joshua Rosensweig, Susan Wilf, and Su Xiaokang for information on Liu Xiaobo, for editorial assistance, and/or for help in solving puzzles in translation. The New York Review of Books kindly granted permission to republish my translation of Charter 08, which originally appeared on its website on December 10, 2008, and in its issue of January 15, 2009 (vol. 56, no. 1). Some of the material in the Introduction appeared in different form in my book, Liu Xiaobo’s Empty Chair, published by New York Review of Books in 2011.
Perry Link
INDEX
Abandoned Capital (Jia Pingwa), 156
Absolute Secrets (An Dun), 158
“Aesthetics and Human Freedom” (Liu Xiaobo), xv
African Americans, 270–273
“Always Follow the Party” (online game), 183
American hegemony, 64, 73, 82
An Dun, 158
An Ji, 5
Analects, The (Confucius), 188–194, 198–199
“Answer, The” (Bei Dao), 41
Anti-Rightist Campaign, 140, 211, 319; Lin Zhao during, 44, 134; Hibiscus Town and, 153; as human rights disaster, 302, 315
Anti-Secession Law, 233
Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign (1983), 152
Appeal for Justice, An (booklet), 212–213
April Fifth Movement (1976), 38, 39
Art, xix, 41, 44–45
Art of War (Sunzi), 80
Article 23 (subversion law), 257–258, 260
Athletes, 251. See also Olympic games; Sports
Aung Sang Suu Kyi, xiv
“Authoritarian Patriotism of the Communist Party of China, The” (Liu Xiaobo), 313, 328, 330, 333, 336
Ba Jin, 137–145; Cultural Revolution and, 137–141; Random Thoughts, 138, 141; Family, 139; Communist Party and, 143; Wen Jiabao and, 143
Bai Hua, 141
Bai Juyi, 160
Baidu, 178, 212, 216–217, 232
Bakhtin, Mikhail, 185–186
Bao Zunxin, 206
Barrel-of-the-gun mentality, 67, 69, 82, 83
Basic Law, 259
BBC Chinese web, 328, 329
Bei Dao, xv, 43, 179; “The Answer,” 41; Stars Exhibition and, 44
“Beijing Municipal Procedures Concerning the Expropriation and Management of Residences,” 90
Beijing Normal University: Liu Xiaobo and, xv, xvii, 11, 282, 321; Liu Di and, 183; open letter signatories from, 206
Beijing Number One Detention Center, xxi, 324
Beijing Spring, xviii
Beijing Summit on Chinese-African Cooperation, 234
Bell, Julian, 171
Biding time policy, 71–73, 76, 233, 234
Bin Laden, Osama, 64, 78
Black curtains, 56
Black hands, xvii, 9–10, 11, 206, 259
Black Ice (TV series), 70
Black kiln child slavery scandal, 94–106; Hu Jintao and, 97, 101, 103–105; Wen Jiabao and, 97, 101, 103–105; government and, 97–106; Internet and, 99, 101, 103, 104; media and, 99, 101, 104–105; Communist Party and, 100–103, 105–106; National People’s Congress and, 102–103
Blizzard of 2008, 219
Bloody Case That a Steamed Bun Caused, The (short film), 178
BMW case, 208–209
Body banquets, female, 164–165
Boxers, 66
Boxun (website), 332
Brick Kilns Slave Labor Case, 219. See also Black kiln child slavery scandal
Bricks (radio-recorders), 40
Bridges of Madison County, The (book), 157
Brokeback Mountain (film), 178, 235
Broken shoes, 154–156
Brown, John, 272
Buddhism, 262, 273
Burning of books and live burials of scholars, 199, 211, 318
Bush, George W., 78, 270, 272
“Call for the Resignation of the Chief of the Office of Labor and Social Security in Shanxi Province, A” (Wang Quanjie), 98–99
Candy (Mian Mian), 158–159
Cao Lei, 251
Cao Yu, 139, 140
Capitalism, 225, 227
Carnivalesque Poetics: A Study of Bakhtin’s Literary Thought (Wang Jian’gang), 185–186
Cell Phone (film), 163
Chan, Anson, 260
Chang, Eileen, 139, 157
Charter 08, 300–312; Liu Xiaobo and, xiv, xix–xx, 300–301, 310, 313–316, 328–333, 335–336; signatures on, xx; on Internet, 300; fundamental principles of, 303–305; on democracy, 304, 306; recommendations in, 305–310, 316; aftermath of, 310–312; Dalai Lama on, 311–312
Charter 77, xix, 186, 205, 300
Chauvinism, 108, 234, 263
Chen Jianjiao, 104–105
Chen Kaige, 178
Chen Lantao, 9
Chen Shibian, 79
Chen Yibing, 251
Chen Yinke, 200
Chen Yuan, 171
Chen Zhongshi, 156
Chen Ziming, 9, 206
Cheng Ming Monthly, xviii
Cheng Renxing, 6
Cheng Yizhong, 209, 217
Chiang Ching-kuo, 21, 28, 48, 274
Chiang Kai-shek, 195
Child slavery scandal, black kiln, 94–106
China: history of, xv–xvi; Japan’s defeat of, xvi, 62, 66, 301; United States’ relations with, 52–53, 64–68, 77–83, 233–235; ruling all under heaven, 65, 68, 69, 188, 213, 233, 235, 236; Soviet Union’s relations with, 65, 67–68, 77, 80, 233–234; civil war in, 67, 70, 302; Japan’s relationship with, 77, 165–167, 233–234; as patriarchal society, 168, 171; Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BCE), 191; Western views of, 235–236; rise of, 235–239; victory over Japan, 302
China Can Say “No” (book), 73
China Central Television (CCTV): on Muzi Mei, 159–160; Lecture Hall, 188–189; The Rise of the Great Powers, 228–232, 259; on Olympic games, 245–246, 248
China Economic Times, 87
China threat, 236
China Youth Daily, 26, 216, 218n1, 230
chinanews.com, 99
Chinese Academy of Sciences, 206
Chinese culture: Liu Xiaobo on, xv–xvi; Western culture and, 117–127; nationalism and, 118, 121; courses in, 189; frivolity in, 225–226
“Chinese Declaration of Human Rights, A” (Ren Wanding), 41
Chinese Democracy Education Foundation, 292, 298
Chinese Enclosure Movement, 33
Chinese Human Rights Defenders, 207, 300, 311
Chinese PEN (writers’ group), xix, 329, 330, 332
Chinese Politics and China’s Modern Intellectuals (Liu Xiaobo), 117–127
Chinese pop, 181
Chinese Revolution, goals of, 66
Christians, 209–210
Citizens, engaged, 279
City Patrol Beating Death Case, 219
Civic education, 308
Civil Human Rights Front, 260
Civil rights movement, in United States, 271–272
Civil society, 21, 26, 28, 47; Internet’s impact on, 204, 207–209, 215, 218, 220
Civil war, China’s, 67, 70, 302
Clash of civilizations between East and West, 71
Class struggle: violence of, 38; hunger strike agreement on, 278, 280; Mao Zedong on, 323
Clinton, Bill, 52, 159
Clinton, Hillary, 271
Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, 257–258
Cold humor, 178–180
Cold War, 25, 67, 68, 77
Collectiv
ization, 32–33, 35–36
Columbia University, New York, xvi
Columbus, Christopher, 272
Commercial culture, 150, 151, 155, 157
Communes, 32–33, 38, 88
Communism: impacts of, xvi; political organization replacing, 21–22; land and, 32–33; in post-totalitarian era, 47, 49–51, 53–56; Deng Xiaoping on, 54
Communist Party: “Outline of China’s Land Law,” 32; Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of, 37; purge following Tiananmen Massacre, 49; membership in, 50, 53–55; Seventeenth Congress of, 75; black kiln child slavery scandal and, 100–103, 105–106; Ba Jin and, 143; corruption and, 169, 214–215; governing strategies of, 224–226, 296; Politburo’s study session, 229; on freedom of speech, 318–319
“Comrade Ba Jin’s Remains Are Cremated in Shanghai, Jia Qinglin and Others Visit the Funeral Home to Pay Respects” (Xinhua News Agency), 138
Confucian imperial system, 63, 199–200
Confucius, 188–200; nationalism and, 188; The Analects, 188–194, 198–199; Mao Zedong and, 195–196, 200; May Fourth movement and, 195–196, 200; intellectuals on, 198–200