Cai Chu
Editor-in-chief, democratic China
President, Independent Chinese PEN Center
Liu Xiaobo did three major things in his life
• Supported “June 4th” students democratic movement and became “black hands”
• Established and developed the independent Chinese PEN Center
• Strengthened and developed the “Democratic China” Electronic Journal and drafted and promoted “Charter 08”, which sacrificed his own life.
Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) was founded in July 2001. Liu Xiaobo and I are among the 31 founders of ICPC. Liu Xiaobo was Twice elected president from 2003 to 2007. During Xiaobo’s tenure as the ICPC president, on October 30, 2004 and January 2, 2006, he organized PEN Freedom of Writing Award Ceremony in Beijing , the Lin Zhao Memorial Award was established in 2006 in ICPC’s second meeting.
Moreover, ICPC held a seminar in Chengdu on April 23, 2005, in which writers Saluted to Liu Binyan and all overseas writers-in-exile. During this period, ICPC members in Beijing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Guiyang and other cities in China promoted constitutionalism, human rights and exposed the lies of the CCP by means of Reading Clubs. These activities shocked the authorities in Beijing. Therefore, Xiaobo was not only monitored, but also summoned and taken away by Beijing police many times. What is commendable is that even though he lived in mainland China, he was not afraid of the CCP’s repeated harassment and suppression. He stood up to promote the spirit of freedom, safeguard the writers’ physical and spiritual freedom, defend their writing and publishing rights, and ensure the free dissemination of their works.
《 Democratic China 》 was founded in April 1990. In October 2006, due to the retirement of Su Xiaokang, Liu Xiaobo, Zhang Zuhua and I jointly took over the 《 Democratic China 》 electronic journal, dedicated to accumulating civic strength, tearing down the iron wall of autocracy, and building China into a free, democratic, and constitutional country . During these 17 years, Liu Xiaobo was martyred, Zhang Zuhua has been under house arrest, and batches of mainland Chinese authors and signers of “Charter 08” were punished by the CCP authorities for their words, some of them were thrown into prison, and even persecuted to death. However, China’s constitutional activities are still continuously happen one after another. On World Human Rights Day last year, the co-signers of “Charter 08” published the “43rd batch of signatures”. The number of signatures have exceeded 14,000.
As early as 2005, Liu Xiaobo pointed out : “The future of free China lies in the people”. This has profoundly affected and changed the decision-making of the US government. Today, the US government has changed its hope for changes in the CCP system, and has instead emphasized the separation of the Chinese government from the Chinese people. As Liu Xiaobo said before his death: “When the consciousness of rights and freedom among the Chinese people is awakened, the fundamental hope of promoting China’s reform lies not in the government but in the people.”
A pen that shocked the imperial capital,
a heroic soul cleansed by freedom’s storm.
Liu Xiaobo is no longer among us,
But through his successors constitutional government will be born.
Liu Xiaobo always lives with us!
【MinZhuZhongGuo】2023.07.13
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