Su Xiaokang

Su Xiaokang ( Chinese  苏晓康 ; * 1949 in Hebei , People's Republic of China ) is an influential intellectual , writer , journalist and political activist who became one of the seven most wanted dissidents in the People's Republic of China in 1989 . His most notable work, River Elegy, paved the way for the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. His participation in the protest forced him into exile after the Tiananmen Square massacre . Su currently lives in Delaware , USA .

Life and education

Su Xiaokang was born and raised in Hebei Province . Su came from a family of intellectuals. His father, Su Pei, was vice president of the Central Party Academy of the Chinese Communist Party, and his mother was a reporter for the Guangming Daily . Su attended a college for higher education. Because of his intellectual background, he was sent to a rural area as a worker during the Cultural Revolution . After the Cultural Revolution, Su became a reporter for the Henan Daily and later the People's Daily, and was a lecturer at the Beijing Broadcasting Institute and later at the University of Beijing .

River Elegy

Su Xiaokang was lauded by scholars and intellectuals in the 1980s who viewed him as one of the most iconic and popular liberal writers. Su wrote the script for the controversial and thought-provoking documentary River Elegy , a six-part documentary that narrated the decline of Chinese civilization and culture, highlighting the differences between the "transparency" of democracy and the " opacity " of an autocracy and the political System under the rule of the Communist Party. The documentary was inspiring for numerous students and became the starting point for the protests on Tiananmen Square.

1989 Tiananmen Square protests

Su, along with 50 writers and novelists, took part in the May protests ahead of the arrival of Soviet President Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev . Expressing support for the students, Su said, "Students should not be allowed to stand alone." On May 19, Su and other intellectuals signed a petition calling for democracy in China:

We as intellectuals solemnly swear to never cease to seek democracy that has been promoted by students with their blood and life; never on any pretext to break away from it because of cowardice; never again to allow the humiliations of the past; never to give up our moral integrity; never to submit to a dictatorship ; never to swear allegiance to the last emperors of China in the 1980s.

Although Su supported the student movement, he went to the square on May 13th and tried to convince the students to end the hunger strike , suspecting the hunger strike could escalate into a "bloodbath". His books were banned from sale and publication immediately after the crackdown, and River Elegy was officially denounced by the Chinese Communist Party and declared as counter-revolutionary .

exile

After the crackdown on June 4, 1989, the Chinese Communist Party accused Su Xiaokang of being one of the "black hands" behind the protest and subsequently accused him of the crime of "inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda." His exile began while trying to escape an arrest warrant. While in exile, Su had to hide in the mountains and remote villages for three months before Operation Yellowbird successfully smuggled him into Hong Kong . Su went to France and was later reunited with his wife and son in the United States . Since the beginning of his exile, Su has actively participated in speeches and seminars to campaign for a democracy movement in the People's Republic of China . He started a web-based magazine called Democratic China to continue the pro-democracy movement.

Su wrote his memoir , entitled A Memoir of Misfortune , which was published in Chinese in 1997 and in English in 2001. The memoir documented the hardship he and his family suffered after his exile and a tragic car accident in the city of Buffalo that left his wife paralyzed. Following the book A Memoir of Misfortune , Su wrote another book, The Loneliness of Delaware Bay , in which he recounted the struggles and challenges he has faced since moving to the United States. In 2013, Su published The Era of Slaying the Dragon , which dealt with themes from Mao's Great Leap Forward and other atrocities that took place under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party.

In 2003, Su returned to China for his father's funeral under three conditions imposed by the Chinese government:

• No interviews with the press.
• Don't make speeches.
• No meeting with political activists.

Su's story was also featured in the homecoming campaign funded and founded by Chu Yiu Ming. The campaign aimed to restore the right of exiled democracy activists to return to China.

Web link

• Democratic China

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} The World: Dissident Escapes China , Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1989, accessed October 2, 2018
2. ↑ Lu Xiaobo, No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, United States: Harvard University press, 2012, p. Xix, accessed October 2, 2018
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Chen Fong-Ching, Jin Guantao, From Youthful Manuscripts to River Elegy: The Chinese Popular Cultural Movement and Political Transformation, Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1979–1989, p. 219, ISBN 978-9622017627 , accessed on October 2, 2018
4. ^ ^{A b} Repression in China since June 4, 1989: Cumulative Data, Asia Watch Report , Human Rights Watch, September 1990, p. 118, ISBN 978-0929692746 , accessed October 2, 2018
5. ↑ ^{a b} 蘇曉康 ： 思想 啟蒙 者 的 反思 , [Su Xiaokang: Reflection by a pioneer] (Su ​​Xiaokang: Thoughts on Enlightenment), BBC News, May 29, 2009, accessed October 2, 2018
6. ↑ ^{a b} 嵇 偉. "專訪 ： 蘇曉康 談 批判 毛澤東 原罪 的 新 著 , [Interview: Su Xiaokang criticized the sin of Mao in his newest book] (Yan Wei. Interview: Su Xiaokang's new book about criticizing Mao Zedong's original sin), BBC News, Jan. July 2013, accessed October 2, 2018
7. ↑ ^{a b} 河 殤 撰稿人 蘇曉康 今 何在 , [What is Su Xiaokang, an author of River Elegy], Open Magazine, November 11, 2013, accessed October 2 2018
8. ^ David Holley, Thousands of Chinese on Bicycles Protest Censorship , Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1989, accessed October 2, 2018
9. ↑ Nicholas D. Kristof, Beijing's Leaders Reported to Meet , The New York Times, June 24, 1989, accessed October 2, 2018
10. ↑ Beijing Decries Criticism from Abroad; Student Leader Wang Reported Arrested , Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1989, accessed October 2, 2018
11. ↑ Kang Fuxin, 中共 黨史 研究 抨擊 河 殤 誣指 蘇曉康 等 人 宣揚 自由化 , [Study on the history of the Communist Party of China accuses intellectuals including Su Xiaokang and others of promoting liberalism] (The study on the history of the Communist Party of China Accuses intellectuals including Su Xiaokang and others of promoting liberalization), United Daily News, December 29, 1989, accessed October 2, 2018
12. ↑ Xu Libing, 聯合 報 系 邀請 河 殤 作者 蘇曉康 即將 訪台 , [United Daily News invited Su Xiaokang the author of River Elegy to Taiwan] (The United Daily News invites Su Xiaokang, the author of River Elegy to visit Taiwan a), Taipei Report, December 22, 1989, accessed October 2, 2018
13. ↑ ^{a b} Verna Yu, Writer Su Xiaokang Wants To 'Probe the Legitimacy of the Party' and 'Slay the Dragon of Mao' , South China Morning Post, July 14, 2013, accessed October 2, 2018
14. ↑ Kandice Chuh, Karen Shimakawa, Orientations: Mapping Studies in the Asian Diaspora , Durham, NC: Duke University Press, August 13, 2001, p. 212, ISBN 9780822381259 , accessed October 2, 2018
15. ^ Su Xiaokang, A Memoir of Misfortune , Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, December 18, 2007, p. 41, ISBN 9780307424433 , accessed October 2, 2018
16. ↑ Perry Link, Ghosts of Tiananmen , Washington Post, June 3, 2011, accessed October 2, 2018
17. ^ Su Xiaokang, A Memoir of Misfortune , Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, December 18, 2007, p. 60, ISBN 9780307424433 , accessed October 2, 2018
18. ↑ 流亡 失語 二十 四年 蘇曉康 , (Exiled and speechless for twenty four years: Su Xiaokang) Ming Weekly Magazine, August 1, 2013, accessed October 2, 2018
19. ↑ 無家可歸 (Homeless) [No home to return to], accessed on October 2, 2018