Author: Su Xiaokang
“Liu Xiaobo Is a National Hero.”
Renowned writer and president of Democratic China magazine, Su Xiaokang
Nowadays, people use many phrases to label Liu Xiaobo, such as a spokesperson for ‘civil society,’ a martyr of constitutional China, the number one citizen of democratic China, and so on. I think we still need to use language familiar to ordinary people to define him in the context of contemporary China. That’s why I say Liu Xiaobo is a ‘national hero.’
1. Heroes are made by circumstances.
At the turn of this century, no one else has contributed to Chinese civilization and progress as Liu Xiaobo. After the June Fourth massacre in 1989, China entered a dark age. How long this will last, no one knows to this day, as the West also experienced decline, and the entire international community was shrouded in appeasement. Since World War II, human civilization has made some progress except in technological inventions (such as the digital age), but in other areas, it can be said that there has been no progress; human selfishness even surpasses any other era in history. Against this backdrop, China’s decline—human greed, environmental decay, and institutional regression—became even more pronounced, which is why Yu Yingshi called it the era of “heaven and earth closed, worthy men hidden.” Yet it was precisely in this darkness that the blood and fire of June Fourth tempered a man—and one of the most cowardly and pitiful groups—Liu Xiaobo. What he has done in these thirty years is irreplaceable:
He rarely insisted on peaceful resistance against tyranny
He humbly helped and helped those in distress
He tirelessly sought a path for political transformation in China to break free from the cycle of violence.
Since modern times, Chinese civilization has been a declining and failed civilization. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty, society disintegrated, and China reintegrated according to the modern totalitarian model. The Chinese nation paid a terrible price for this, losing forty to fifty million people in just sixty or seventy years, and to this day, no way out is in sight. The “June 4th” disaster nearly collapsed this totalitarian regime yet survived, giving it the opportunity to create an even more terrifying model. Therefore, what we face today is an unprecedented “upgraded version of totalitarianism” in the world, and the Chinese nation is also facing catastrophe. Liu Xiaobo explored a possible political path, which is a great asset for the Chinese people.
2. Liu Xiaobo practiced and reshaped the new personality of the intellectual class.
TheChinese nation was terrified, intellectuals had their backbone broken—what hope was there for this nation? The Western path—civil society, democratic elections, representative systems, rule of law, Christianity, and so on—all of these in Chinese culture are inseparable from a core cohesive role in Chinese culture, because for thousands of years of the Four Classes of Society, the ‘scholars’ must be led. Under modernization, it is precisely this ‘scholars’ who have gone bad that China is a complete mess.
Liu Xiaobo single-handedly blocked the post-June Fourth spiritual dilemma of the loss of “moral resources,” and only then did he become a new grassroots leader. To this end, he had to rebuild the “intellectual persona.” In his youth, Liu Xiaobo was an extremely arrogant rebel, but it was precisely these rebels who survived in a world of collapse and forged a new path. During the famous “cultural boom” in China in the 1980s, he was a rebellious “dark horse.” He challenged authority, was rebellious and radical, frequently making shocking statements that caused a public uproar and widespread discussion. His rebellious resistance to authority gave him a kind of bravery and sharpness that intellectuals lack, and also gave him courage and resilience in the darkness.
He did three things: he took the initiative to bear guilt and repent for himself; Holding fast in the country, refusing exile, going to prison again and again; Humbly supporting those in suffering. Here, Liu Xiaobo practiced the spirit of suffering as a “Christian,” outperforming countless Chinese Christians, even though he was not baptized; His transcendence even surpassed the spirit of the May Fourth movement, because we all know that the giants of that generation, like Hu Shi, all despised and opposed Western Christianity. China’s great intellectuals surrendered to Mao Zedong after the April Fourth Incident. Subsequent generations all worked hard to return to the May Fourth era, but only by surpassing the May Fourth can Chinese intellectuals be reborn. Today, I have only seen one person reach this point—Liu Xiaobo.
3. Liu Xiaobo has lived a brilliant and legendary life.
Although he died of a terminal illness at the age of only 61, he lived more freely than anyone else. His legend is not something a standard Chinese tradition can match; on the contrary, his life was full of controversy, perfectly mirroring China’s chaos, subversion, disorder, and decline.
I once described him like this: from ‘China wants to be a colony for three hundred years’ to ‘I have no enemies,’ how far is the distance, and how can it be measured? This is both the distance from culture to politics, from Nietzsche to Gandhi, and from rebellion, arrogance, and arrogance, to self-reflection, humility, and willingness to go to hell.
China’s past thirty years have been marked by three major events: reform and cultural fervor, the massacre and economic takeoff, authoritarian hegemony and nationalism; In these three events, we can see Liu Xiaobo’s presence. Standing at the forefront of a great era, he has been a trendsetter in these thirty years, and no one has matched him.
Liu Xiaobo has been heavily criticized for being “culturally radical” and equally accused for “political moderation,” and has faced such “attacks from both sides.” Who in China has ever been affected? From leading protesting students out of the square under gunfire on the morning of June 4th, to being imprisoned and winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Liu Xiaobo has changed over thirty years. Though still rebellious, he has developed a gentle heart.
Even his private life has been turbulent and mixed. But in the past twenty years, he said, “For twenty years, it has been Liu Xia’s love that has supported me and given me strength.” They almost performed a modern version of ‘revolution plus love.’ In his final moments, to repay Liu Xia for suffering from severe depression because of him, he committed another great rebellion, abandoning his original intention of never going abroad and serving his life in prison. With his last breath, he decided to send Liu Xia to the West, regardless of public opinion. Liu Xiaobo did as he pleased until the end. There is no second Liu Xiaobo in this world.
July 10, 2017