Liu Xiaobo was innocent, he died for us, says Chinese film maker
Ai Xiaoming, known in China for her gritty documentary films and as a feminist scholar, was Nobel Laureate and democracy activist Liu Xiaobo’s contemporary at the Beijing Normal University’s (BNU) Chinese department in the 1980s.
Liu, considered a dissentient by China for his pro-democracy activism, was undergoing his fourth stint in prison when he was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. He was granted medical parole, but was not allowed to travel abroad for treatment. Liu died in a hospital in Shenyang on July 13, mere weeks after being released from jail.
His wife Liu Xia — under house arrest since 2010 — scattered his ashes after cremation at sea, with the Communist Party of China (CPC) ensuring that there would be no grave on land to serve as a magnet for protests.
“We were friends, though we were in different majors in the Chinese language department. He was already a radical literary critic then,” Ai said. Ai also knows a thing or two about living under the watch of the authorities — her films are banned in China and she lives under constant surveillance at her home in Wuhan city.
Speaking to HT from Wuhan, Ai was frank about her evolving relationship with Liu.
They met in the 1980s and received their doctoral degrees from BNU. Then in 1989, the Tiananmen movement happened, where Liu was a key leader.
“We had sympathy for the students but could not take responsibility of fighting for the students. But Liu was very brave... He was a very rare intellectual,” Ai said.
Liu was jailed soon after, and their paths didn’t cross for years.
“Our roads (to fighting for political freedom) were different. He was known as the dissident intellectual. I was working from within the system,” Ai said.
Returning to China in 2000 after a doing a course in the US, Ai began to focus more on human rights and individual freedom. “Liu saw some my documentaries and we realised we have common goals,” she said.
They never met face-to-face for years but by then, according to Ai, their aims had merged.
She met Liu for the last time at a nondescript Chinese restaurant in Beijing in October 2008.
“We chatted about Charter 08 (a manifesto for political reform and individual freedom). I read the draft, gave a few ideas. We didn’t think it was such a big idea then,” Ai said.
However, Charter 08 became a big headache for Chinese authorities after it was released two months later — big enough for the government to crackdown on those who signed it. It led to Liu’s arrest under “subversion” charges in 2009 and his wife Liu Xia was put under house arrest soon after.
But Liu’s death wasn’t in vain, Ai said. “Liu died for us. He was innocent. He was a valuable man. We should remember him,” she said.