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Late one night in December 2008, police arrived at the home of Liu Xiaobo—China’s leading dissident, a key figure in the prodemocracy manifesto Charter 08—and took him away. When Liu won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize as a political prisoner, the award was bestowed on an empty chair. Inside China, the regime sought to erase every trace of his existence. Liu died of liver cancer in 2017 without ever having been allowed to return home.
I Have No Enemies is the definitive biography of Liu Xiaobo, offering a meticulously researched account of the twists and turns of a remarkable life. Perry Link and Wu Dazhi explore Liu’s upbringing, immersion in classical Chinese poetry and philosophy, bold challenges to literary conformity, and involvement in democratic movements. They trace the lifelong evolution of his thinking and chronicle his persecution, incarceration, and death.
I Have No Enemies emphasizes Liu’s principled commitment to dissent and the significance of the example he set in China and around the world. Liu was a farsighted strategist whose ultimate goal was “to change a regime by changing a society.” In Tiananmen Square, he showed others how to face down armed soldiers; in daily life, he looked for ways to build a more democratic culture. A powerful record of Liu’s life and times, this book also tells the story of a generation of Chinese intellectuals who sought a better way forward.
— Ha Jin, author of A Song Everlasting
This is an extraordinary work: a meticulous portrait of Liu Xiaobo, his intellectual and activist community, and a period in recent Chinese history notoriously hard to research. It is moving—and essential—reading, reflecting people’s incredible tenacity in pursuing their rights and freedoms even in the face of unyielding repression.
— Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch and author of China, Cambodia, and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
This is sure to be the work of reference on Liu Xiaobo for many years to come. It is meticulously researched, drawing on unequaled access to sources close to Liu Xiaobo as well as a vast body of references that derive from deep familiarity with China’s intellectual scene over the last fifty years.
— Sebastian Veg, author of Minjian: The Rise of China's Grassroots Intellectuals
A moving and well researched biography... meticulously covers an incredible amount of extremely sensitive topics which range from corrupt officials, discrimination against various groups and heavy matters related to human trafficking and police brutality.
Meticulously researched and wonderfully crafted...
— Yang Su
The best biography ever written on the Nobel Peace Prize laureate...an absolute must-read...
— Jean-Philippe Béja
A magisterial contribution to Chinese intellectual and political history...written clearly and straightforwardly enough to attract readers outside of academe.
During my many decades of studying and writing about China, I’ve digested thousands of novels and works of non-fiction in the field. But I cannot think of a book about contemporary Chinese political thought that has so drawn me into the narrative of one thinker’s life as I Have No Enemies.
— Orville Schell
The definitive biography of the most famous dissent of the nearly seventy-five-year history of the People's Republic of China...a tour de force...
— Ian Johnson
Liu's prolific relations of amity, intellectual camaraderie, and rivalry also make Link and Wu's book a richer portrait of a movement and a moment than many single-person biographical works.
— Ed Pulford
Perry Link is professor emeritus of East Asian studies at Princeton University and teaches at the University of California, Riverside. He has written widely on modern Chinese language, literature, popular culture, and political dissent.
Wu Dazhi is a longtime friend of Liu Xiaobo.
Acknowledgments
A Note on Names
Chronology
1. Arrest, Trial, and the Road to a Nobel Prize
2. Rebel in Embryo
3. Puppy Love and Serious Reading
4. College Years, and the Mask of Mao Falls
5. Aesthetics and Human Freedom
6. Mutiny! A Dark Horse Soars
7. Gods and Demons Wrestle
8. Out Into the World
9. In Tiananmen Square
10. A “Black Hand” Goes to Prison, Feels Deep Remorse
11. Picking up and Starting Over
12. Love That Jumps Walls
13. In the Service of Underdogs
14. Cascading Cases Build a Movement
15. An Intellectual Transition
16. Stability Maintenance
17. Observing the World, Growing at Home
18. The Gathering Storm
19. Charter 08
20. The World Watches a Prison
Epilogue: The Legacy of Liu Xiaobo
A Final Note from Wu Dazhi
Notes
Index