Knowing about the nomination was about two weeks ago. The Time Magazine had a one-line coverage about how the Chinese government was condemning the Noble Foundation about the possible winning of the Noble Peace Prize by the democracy campaigner Liu, Xiaobo 刘晓波.
The final announcement came over this weekend: Liu won! The jailed human right activist Liu who is still serving his 11 years of sentencing in the Chinese prison, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize! The news took the entire cover page of the local Chinese newspaper and was all over the internet in no time. The name Liu, Xiaobo was cited by the Western media countless times within hours. Yet, when I searched the Chinese website on Saturday night, the closest thing I found related to the Noble Prize was that the Physics Prize was given to a pair of UK scientists.
That was not even the worst (Chinese government is known for its censorship and its media control). The shocking news came out today: Liu's wife has gone missing since Friday after the winning announcement. According to the article that I read this morning, she was supposed to go to the prison to visit her husband and deliver the news to him. However, no one could get in contact with her since Friday night and her cell phone service was disconnected. Her last known contact with the reporter was over the telephone, and she was apparently "negotiating" with the local police at that time. Even worse, the government was practicing its silencing policy once again: arresting activists all over Beijing, deleting any news or internet posts that had Liu's name in them...
I wouldn't call myself an activist - I used to say that it's because I understand my own capability so I wouldn't dare the impossible. However, it is during times like today that I wish I could do more. People say the North Koreans don't think their lives suck under the Kim dictatorship because they don't know life could be better. Well, the same goes for China and its people. If those of us who have seen the better don't educate the people, how could they know the difference? How could they know they have choices?
So I called home and talked to my mom, despite the fact that our 15 minute conversation was disconnected 3 times. I'd rather believe that it was because we had a bad connection tonight......
The final announcement came over this weekend: Liu won! The jailed human right activist Liu who is still serving his 11 years of sentencing in the Chinese prison, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize! The news took the entire cover page of the local Chinese newspaper and was all over the internet in no time. The name Liu, Xiaobo was cited by the Western media countless times within hours. Yet, when I searched the Chinese website on Saturday night, the closest thing I found related to the Noble Prize was that the Physics Prize was given to a pair of UK scientists.
That was not even the worst (Chinese government is known for its censorship and its media control). The shocking news came out today: Liu's wife has gone missing since Friday after the winning announcement. According to the article that I read this morning, she was supposed to go to the prison to visit her husband and deliver the news to him. However, no one could get in contact with her since Friday night and her cell phone service was disconnected. Her last known contact with the reporter was over the telephone, and she was apparently "negotiating" with the local police at that time. Even worse, the government was practicing its silencing policy once again: arresting activists all over Beijing, deleting any news or internet posts that had Liu's name in them...
I wouldn't call myself an activist - I used to say that it's because I understand my own capability so I wouldn't dare the impossible. However, it is during times like today that I wish I could do more. People say the North Koreans don't think their lives suck under the Kim dictatorship because they don't know life could be better. Well, the same goes for China and its people. If those of us who have seen the better don't educate the people, how could they know the difference? How could they know they have choices?
So I called home and talked to my mom, despite the fact that our 15 minute conversation was disconnected 3 times. I'd rather believe that it was because we had a bad connection tonight......
2 comments:
Well, honesty, I was excited about this news too. But I don't know how much his Nobel price can change the political environment of China. Anyway, this is a good start. :)
When I just heard this news, I actually got shocked and my past experience told me that there would be something going on in the mainland...then, everything just went unsurprisingly...anyway, I was very disappointed about the governmental reaction of Beijing, and I couldn't be more agreed with your point that people don't know they can have choice...so perhaps now I should try to talk with my parents about this to see how the connection works...
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