Goodbye Liu Xiaobo

On July 13, 2017, Liu Xiaobo, China’s only Nobel Peace Prize laureate, succumbed to his battle against liver cancer.
The Chinese writer, poet, and human rights activists died at the age of 61 while he was still held by the Chinese government as a political prisoner under medical parole.

On July 15, 2017, Liu Xiaobo had a funeral service that was attended by his wife and a few other family members and close friends. The funeral was arranged by the Chinese government to honor Chinese custom and the family’s requests. After the funeral service, Liu Xiaobo’s ashes were lowered into the ocean along northeastern China. Many believe that this sea burial was required by the Chinese government as a way to ensure that no grave on Chinese land will serve as Mr. Liu’s physical memorial site that can be used as an epicenter for future protests against the Chinese government. Many of Mr. Liu’s supporters were enraged by this as they claim that the sea burial was disrespectful.

Liu Xiaobo first became famous in China because of his exemplary contributions in the field of literature. He later on became controversial when he joined protests calling for political reforms in China. He was imprisoned three separate times from 1989 to 1999. His fourth arrest was due to his participation in the drafting of the Charter 8 manifesto which demanded the provision of democratic rights, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press in China. This arrest was his most serious one as it was where he was charged with inciting subversion of state power, a criminal case in China that is usually associated with human rights activists. He was tried for the case and was sentenced to eleven years of imprisonment and two years of deprivation of political rights.During his fourth incarceration, he was chosen as the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for "his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

The Chinese government deemed it very inappropriate for Mr. Liu to receive such an award. They opposed the inclusion of Mr. Liu in the nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize, but the Nobel Committee still included Mr. Liu in the selection process which ended in favor of Mr. Liu.

Liu Xiaobo’s death has brought a lot of attention to China mainly because the conditions before and after his death are controversial. His supporters mourn the loss of a courageous man who stood by what he was fighting for until his last breath.