Nobel Peace Prize goes to Chinese Dissident
Jeanwah
Posts: 6,363
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11507381
China vents fury at dissident's Nobel award
This was a story that made headlines round the world. But in China's state-run media the anger of the authorities in Beijing was on full display.
One editorial in the Global Times newspaper said in English: "Obviously, the Nobel Peace Prize this year is meant to irritate China, but it will not succeed."
"On the contrary, the committee disgraced itself."
The paper's Chinese-language edition called the award "an arrogant showcase of Western ideology" and said that it had disrespected the Chinese people.
In the age of internet state media were perhaps forced to announce that Liu Xiaobo had won.
But almost all the reporting was fashioned around a statement made by the Foreign Ministry, describing Mr Liu as a "criminal" - and saying the decision to award him the prize was an "obscenity."
Some international news channels - which are not widely available in China anyway - were blocked on Friday night when running reports on Liu Xiaobo. Those blocked included the BBC.
And there has been little mention of Mr Liu on China's normally very active blogging sites.
The Nobel prizes are well known here.
'National humiliation'
Every year, the authorities and many Chinese hope that one of the country's authors, scientists or economists wins the prize in their field of expertise.
In a country that invented gun-powder and paper, there is much hand-wringing that no Chinese national has ever picked up a prize for scientific work.
But the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a jailed dissident was not the recognition that authorities here crave.
They will view the award as a deliberate snub by the West designed to undermine China, which is on track to have the world's second largest economy by the end of year.
The Chinese Communist Party is extremely sensitive to outside criticism. Part of it stems from the challenge to the party's authority.
But in China there remains an antipathy to foreign powers - dating back to the Opium Wars launched by Britain in the mid 19th Century.
Schoolchildren learn about this period called by some historians as the "century of national humiliation".
Even today, many Chinese believe that foreign powers want to keep their country weak and divided.
Spotlight
Before Friday, Liu Xiaobo was virtually unknown in China. The authorities here work hard to stamp out political dissent as soon as it appears.
Supporters of Mr Liu, however, hope the prize will shine a spotlight on China's human rights record.
But according to reports, at least some of China's most prominent activist lawyers said they were being harassed by police.
Lawyers Pu Zhiqiang, Jiang Tianyong and others said they were not allowed to leave their homes.
"The government doesn't know how to react to the news of Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel prize," Mr Pu told the Associated Press News Agency. "They are nervous, fearful and are acting chaotically."
When the BBC tried to reach Liu Xiaobo's wife - Liu Xia - her mobile phone was switched off.
She said on Friday that she would be visiting her husband in jail on Saturday. Reporters, however, have been kept away from the prison in the north-east of the country.
And it is still not clear whether Liu Xiaobo even knows if he is this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
(a few days later, his wife visits him in jail. 10/10/10)
China vents fury at dissident's Nobel award
This was a story that made headlines round the world. But in China's state-run media the anger of the authorities in Beijing was on full display.
One editorial in the Global Times newspaper said in English: "Obviously, the Nobel Peace Prize this year is meant to irritate China, but it will not succeed."
"On the contrary, the committee disgraced itself."
The paper's Chinese-language edition called the award "an arrogant showcase of Western ideology" and said that it had disrespected the Chinese people.
In the age of internet state media were perhaps forced to announce that Liu Xiaobo had won.
But almost all the reporting was fashioned around a statement made by the Foreign Ministry, describing Mr Liu as a "criminal" - and saying the decision to award him the prize was an "obscenity."
Some international news channels - which are not widely available in China anyway - were blocked on Friday night when running reports on Liu Xiaobo. Those blocked included the BBC.
And there has been little mention of Mr Liu on China's normally very active blogging sites.
The Nobel prizes are well known here.
'National humiliation'
Every year, the authorities and many Chinese hope that one of the country's authors, scientists or economists wins the prize in their field of expertise.
In a country that invented gun-powder and paper, there is much hand-wringing that no Chinese national has ever picked up a prize for scientific work.
But the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a jailed dissident was not the recognition that authorities here crave.
They will view the award as a deliberate snub by the West designed to undermine China, which is on track to have the world's second largest economy by the end of year.
The Chinese Communist Party is extremely sensitive to outside criticism. Part of it stems from the challenge to the party's authority.
But in China there remains an antipathy to foreign powers - dating back to the Opium Wars launched by Britain in the mid 19th Century.
Schoolchildren learn about this period called by some historians as the "century of national humiliation".
Even today, many Chinese believe that foreign powers want to keep their country weak and divided.
Spotlight
Before Friday, Liu Xiaobo was virtually unknown in China. The authorities here work hard to stamp out political dissent as soon as it appears.
Supporters of Mr Liu, however, hope the prize will shine a spotlight on China's human rights record.
But according to reports, at least some of China's most prominent activist lawyers said they were being harassed by police.
Lawyers Pu Zhiqiang, Jiang Tianyong and others said they were not allowed to leave their homes.
"The government doesn't know how to react to the news of Liu Xiaobo winning the Nobel prize," Mr Pu told the Associated Press News Agency. "They are nervous, fearful and are acting chaotically."
When the BBC tried to reach Liu Xiaobo's wife - Liu Xia - her mobile phone was switched off.
She said on Friday that she would be visiting her husband in jail on Saturday. Reporters, however, have been kept away from the prison in the north-east of the country.
And it is still not clear whether Liu Xiaobo even knows if he is this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
(a few days later, his wife visits him in jail. 10/10/10)
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
but it still beats the fuck out of me
how Obama picked up a Nobel prize
Did the panel choose more wisely this year
beats me but if communist china is pissed off
probably
who were they trying to piss off last year?
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
they should have given it to a US dissident, an anti war activist.
of course, after obama got it the prize lost all credibility anyway.
Though, I gotta agree with this...or at least the prize has to gain a bunch of credibility back after that debacle.
Liu Xiaobao
I have no enemies, and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested and interrogated me, the prosecutors who prosecuted me, or the judges who sentence me, are my enemies. While I’m unable to accept your surveillance, arrest, prosecution or sentencing, I respect your professions and personalities.....
I firmly believe that China’s political progress will never stop, and I’m full of optimistic expectations of freedom coming to China in the future, because no force can block the human desire for freedom. China will eventually become a country of the rule of law in which human rights are supreme. I’m also looking forward to such progress being reflected in the trial of this case, and look forward to the full court’s just verdict ——one that can stand the test of history.
Ask me what has been my most fortunate experience of the past two decades, and I’d say it was gaining the selfless love of my wife, Liu Xia. She cannot be present in the courtroom today, but I still want to tell you, my sweetheart, that I'm confident that your love for me will be as always. Over the years, in my non-free life, our love has contained bitterness imposed by the external environment, but is boundless in afterthought. I am sentenced to a visible prison while you are waiting in an invisible one. Your love is sunlight that transcends prison walls and bars, stroking every inch of my skin, warming my every cell, letting me maintain my inner calm, magnanimous and bright, so that every minute in prison is full of meaning. But my love for you is full of guilt and regret, sometimes heavy enough hobble my steps. I am a hard stone in the wilderness, putting up with the pummeling of raging storms, and too cold for anyone to dare touch. But my love is hard, sharp, and can penetrate any obstacles. Even if I am crushed into powder, I will embrace you with the ashes....
I hope to be the last victim of China’s endless literary inquisition, and that after this no one else will ever be jailed for their speech.
Freedom of expression is the basis of human rights, the source of humanity and the mother of truth. To block freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, to strangle humanity and to suppress the truth.
I do not feel guilty for following my constitutional right to freedom of expression, for fulfilling my social responsibility as a Chinese citizen. Even if accused of it, I would have no complaints.
here is the full statement.
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/china_ ... ement.html