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Ms. Liu prefers to lead the solitary life of an intellectual.<ref name="dw-world"/> However, being the wife of an oft-imprisoned activist, she has been forced to act as his proxy in the public arena.<ref name=spiegel/> She has been described as her husband's "most important link to the outside world."<ref name="dw-world"/> Because she is the wife of one of China's most prominent human rights advocates, she also personally experiences pressures from Chinese authorities for publicly voicing opinions.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39572892/ns/world_news-asiapacific/ Nobel winner's wife: Prize brings hope], 8 October 2010&nbsp;– MSNBC</ref> Since his arrest, she has lived under constant surveillance.<ref name="dw-world"/> From the time of their marriage, during his several terms in prison, she has continued to speak out, although somewhat reluctantly, on issues of human rights both on her own and on his behalf.<ref>[http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/872646--wife-of-chinese-dissident-swept-over-by-nobel-prize-win Jailed Chinese dissident wins Nobel Peace Prize], By Bill Schiller, 8 October 2010 ''The Star''</ref><ref name="reuters">[http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-37957020090211 China dissident's wife pleads for detained husband], By Lucy Hornby, 11 February 2009, Reuters</ref> Despite the pressures, she attempts to retain a life of normality.<ref name="dw-world"/>
Ms. Liu prefers to lead the solitary life of an intellectual.<ref name="dw-world"/> However, being the wife of an oft-imprisoned activist, she has been forced to act as his proxy in the public arena.<ref name=spiegel/> She has been described as her husband's "most important link to the outside world."<ref name="dw-world"/> Because she is the wife of one of China's most prominent human rights advocates, she also personally experiences pressures from Chinese authorities for publicly voicing opinions.<ref>[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39572892/ns/world_news-asiapacific/ Nobel winner's wife: Prize brings hope], 8 October 2010&nbsp;– MSNBC</ref> Since his arrest, she has lived under constant surveillance.<ref name="dw-world"/> From the time of their marriage, during his several terms in prison, she has continued to speak out, although somewhat reluctantly, on issues of human rights both on her own and on his behalf.<ref>[http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/872646--wife-of-chinese-dissident-swept-over-by-nobel-prize-win Jailed Chinese dissident wins Nobel Peace Prize], By Bill Schiller, 8 October 2010 ''The Star''</ref><ref name="reuters">[http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-37957020090211 China dissident's wife pleads for detained husband], By Lucy Hornby, 11 February 2009, Reuters</ref> Despite the pressures, she attempts to retain a life of normality.<ref name="dw-world"/>


Liu Xiaobo's current sentence of 11 years was imposed after he helped write the political manifesto written in 2008 called [[Charter 08]]. Liu Xia begged her husband to not participate in drafting the document.<ref name="nytimes">[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/world/09nobel.html?_r=2&hp Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo], By ANDREW JACOBS and JONATHAN ANSFIELD, Published: 8 October 2010 ''The New York Times''</ref> After initially heeding her pleas, he went forward anyway, immersing himself for three years drafting and re-drafting the document, which he later persuaded more than 300 prominent workers, Chinese Communist Party members, and intellectuals, to sign. The document was later "signed" by 10,000 users on the Internet.<ref name="dw-world"/>
Liu Xiaobo's last sentence of 11 years was imposed after he helped write the political manifesto written in 2008 called [[Charter 08]]. Liu Xia begged her husband to not participate in drafting the document.<ref name="nytimes">[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/world/09nobel.html?_r=2&hp Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo], By ANDREW JACOBS and JONATHAN ANSFIELD, Published: 8 October 2010 ''The New York Times''</ref> After initially heeding her pleas, he went forward anyway, immersing himself for three years drafting and re-drafting the document, which he later persuaded more than 300 prominent workers, Chinese Communist Party members, and intellectuals, to sign. The document was later "signed" by 10,000 users on the Internet.<ref name="dw-world"/>


After it was announced that her husband had won the Nobel Peace Prize while he was imprisoned for an 11-year term for calling for multiparty elections in China, Liu Xia commented that “For all these years, Liu Xiaobo has persevered in telling the truth about China and because of this, for the fourth time, he has lost his personal freedom."<ref name="nytimes"/> She also said that she would visit him in jail and "give him a big hug". After visiting him, however, she was placed under house arrest and her mobile number deactivated.<ref>Mark MacKinnon [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/wife-of-nobel-laureate-under-house-arrest-after-informing-him-of-win/article1751640/ Wife of Nobel laureate under house arrest after informing him of win] ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' 10 October 2010</ref>
After it was announced that her husband had won the Nobel Peace Prize while he was imprisoned for an 11-year term for calling for multiparty elections in China, Liu Xia commented that “For all these years, Liu Xiaobo has persevered in telling the truth about China and because of this, for the fourth time, he has lost his personal freedom."<ref name="nytimes"/> She also said that she would visit him in jail and "give him a big hug". After visiting him, however, she was placed under house arrest and her mobile number deactivated.<ref>Mark MacKinnon [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/asia-pacific/wife-of-nobel-laureate-under-house-arrest-after-informing-him-of-win/article1751640/ Wife of Nobel laureate under house arrest after informing him of win] ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'' 10 October 2010</ref>

Revision as of 19:19, 15 July 2017

Liu Xia
刘霞
A woman holding a poster in the street
A woman holding a poster advocating for Liu in the United States
Born (1961-04-01) 1 April 1961 (age 63)
Beijing, China
NationalityChinese
Occupation(s)poet, painter, photographer
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1996; died 2017)​

Liu Xia (born 1 April 1961) is a Chinese painter, poet, and photographer who resides in Beijing, China. She was the wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo before his death.

Biography

Liu was formerly a civil servant in the Beijing tax bureau,[1] and met her husband Liu Xiaobo while part of the Beijing literary scene in the 1980s.[2] She married Liu Xiaobo while he was imprisoned in China in a labor re-education camp in 1996.[3]

Ms. Liu prefers to lead the solitary life of an intellectual.[2] However, being the wife of an oft-imprisoned activist, she has been forced to act as his proxy in the public arena.[1] She has been described as her husband's "most important link to the outside world."[2] Because she is the wife of one of China's most prominent human rights advocates, she also personally experiences pressures from Chinese authorities for publicly voicing opinions.[4] Since his arrest, she has lived under constant surveillance.[2] From the time of their marriage, during his several terms in prison, she has continued to speak out, although somewhat reluctantly, on issues of human rights both on her own and on his behalf.[5][6] Despite the pressures, she attempts to retain a life of normality.[2]

Liu Xiaobo's last sentence of 11 years was imposed after he helped write the political manifesto written in 2008 called Charter 08. Liu Xia begged her husband to not participate in drafting the document.[7] After initially heeding her pleas, he went forward anyway, immersing himself for three years drafting and re-drafting the document, which he later persuaded more than 300 prominent workers, Chinese Communist Party members, and intellectuals, to sign. The document was later "signed" by 10,000 users on the Internet.[2]

After it was announced that her husband had won the Nobel Peace Prize while he was imprisoned for an 11-year term for calling for multiparty elections in China, Liu Xia commented that “For all these years, Liu Xiaobo has persevered in telling the truth about China and because of this, for the fourth time, he has lost his personal freedom."[7] She also said that she would visit him in jail and "give him a big hug". After visiting him, however, she was placed under house arrest and her mobile number deactivated.[8]

In May 2011, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) made a statement declaring that "The deprivation of liberty of Liu Xia, being in contravention to articles 9, 10 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is arbitrary, and falls within categories II and III of the categories applicable to the cases submitted to the Working Group" and called for an immediate end to the house arrest.[9][10]

In late 2012, Liu Xia spoke briefly with journalists from The Associated Press who managed to visit her apartment.[11]

A video was later uploaded to Youtube showing another brief, unauthorized visit on 28 December 2012 in which Liu Xia and several persons converse briefly in her home.[10][12]

On 23 April 2013, she was allowed out to see her brother's trial. Many feel that the trial was politically motivated. They said that the purported dispute had been resolved, but was brought back into court for some reason. Some assert that this trial is therefore an act of attempted intimidation by the government in order to silence Liu Xia even further. During her brief stint out of her house, where she is allowed no internet, no phone, and few visitors, she found a welcoming crowd waiting for her. She shouted to them, "Tell everybody that I'm not free"; "I love you. I miss you."; and she blew kisses.[13]

On 19 November 2013, she filed an appeal for Liu Xiaobo's retrial. A move that's been called "extraordinary" because the action could refocus the world's attention on China's human rights record.[14] According to her attorney, Mo Shaoping, Liu Xia visited her husband in Jinzhou Prison in Liaoning and gained his approval before filing this motion.[15] (See List of prisons in Liaoning.) In December 2013, a friend of her, Hu told BBC that three years of house arrest had thrown Liu into deep depression and a health professional had been prescribing anti-depressants medication for her.[16]

The Silent Strength of Liu Xia is a collection of 25 black-and-white photographs Liu Xia produced between 1996 and 1999 while her husband served his second stint in a labor re-education camp. It is the only exhibition of Liu Xia's photographic work in the United States. French scholar Guy Sorman, a longtime friend of Liu Xia and her husband, transported the prints out of China and curated the exhibition at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University.[17]

In 2015, a bilingual collection of Liu Xia's poetry, Empty Chairs, was published by Graywolf Press. The poems in the collection span from 1983 to 2013.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b "Wife of Nobel Peace Prize Winner: 'Government Officials Like to Make People Suffer'". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 12 October 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Boelinger, Mathias (8 October 2010). "Wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner talks about daily struggle", Deutsche Welle
  3. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/feb/28/liu-xia-china-dissident-xiaobo
  4. ^ Nobel winner's wife: Prize brings hope, 8 October 2010 – MSNBC
  5. ^ Jailed Chinese dissident wins Nobel Peace Prize, By Bill Schiller, 8 October 2010 The Star
  6. ^ China dissident's wife pleads for detained husband, By Lucy Hornby, 11 February 2009, Reuters
  7. ^ a b Nobel Peace Prize Goes to Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo, By ANDREW JACOBS and JONATHAN ANSFIELD, Published: 8 October 2010 The New York Times
  8. ^ Mark MacKinnon Wife of Nobel laureate under house arrest after informing him of win The Globe and Mail 10 October 2010
  9. ^ https://www.nchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/G1211232.pdf
  10. ^ a b "Liu Xia (刘霞)". Chinese Human Rights Defenders. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  11. ^ "AP Exclusive: China Nobel wife speaks on detention". US News. 6 December 2012.
  12. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJumioueaAo
  13. ^ "Liu Xia defiant as she appears in public for first time in two years". The Guardian. 23 April 2013.
  14. ^ "Wife of jailed Chinese Nobel Laureate appeals for his retrial". Reuters. 19 November 2013.
  15. ^ https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/19/us-china-dissident-idUSBRE9AI0JD20131119?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=71&google_editors_picks=true
  16. ^ "Liu Xia, wife of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, 'depressed'". BBC News. 3 December 2013.
  17. ^ Schultz, Charles (March 2012). "The Silent Strength of Liu Xia". The Brooklyn Rail.
  18. ^ Liu, Xia (2015). Empty Chairs. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Graywolf Press. ISBN 9781555977252.

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