Reviews

No Enemies, No Hatred: Selected Essays and Poems, by Liu Xiaobo, ed-

ited by Perry Link, Tienchi Martin-Liao and Liu Xia, with a foreword by
Vclav Havel. Cambridge MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press, 2012. xxiv + 366 pp. US$29.95 (hardcover).

Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China,

edited by Jean-Philippe Bja, Fu Hualing and Eva Pils. Hong Kong: Hong
Kong University Press, 2012. xi + 381 pp. HK$450.00/US$60.00 (hard-
cover), HK$195.00/US$25.00 (paperback).

On 8 October 2010, the Nobel Foundation announced that the 2010 Nobel Peace
Prize would be awarded to Liu Xiaobo for his long and non-violent struggle for
fundamental human rights in China. At that time, few Westerners were famil-
iar with his name, apart from China specialists. In fact, except for some articles
published in specialized journals and selected Web pages, few of Lius writings
had appeared in English. We knew about Lius attitudes and ideas during and in
the aftermath of the 1989 Massacre through the outstanding documentary by
Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton, The Gate of Heavenly Peace, and the work of
Geremie Barm on Lius role in the 1980s and 90s.
These two new books provide an excellent opportunity to approach Liu and
his ideas, both directly and indirectly. The first, No Enemies, No Hatred, includes
a wide selection of his writings and poetry from 1989 to 2009. The second ana-
lyzes Charter 08, a well-known manifesto for human rights, democracy and
rule of law signed by 303 Chinese intellectuals and posted on the Internet on
9December 2008. Liu was one of the main sponsors of Charter 08 and became
the key target of the Chinese authorities reaction; the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) saw the manifesto as extremely challenging. After being placed under
residential surveillance for more than six months, Liu was arrested on suspi-
cion of instigating subversion of state power. Six months later, on 25 December
2009, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Both books underline the relationship between Charter 08 and Charta 77, a
manifesto that had called on the then-ruling Communist Party in Czechoslovakia

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190 T H E C H I N A J O U R N A L , No. 71

to respect human rights. Indeed, No Enemies, No Hatred begins with a foreword

by the late Czech President and playwright Vclav Havel, one of the authors of
Charta 77, in which he suggests similarities between the two Communist re-
gimes, both of which reacted by imprisoning private citizens who dared to call
on their governments to respect human rights.
Perry Link, Tienchi Martin-Liao and Liu XiaLius wifeare the editors of No
Enemies, No Hatred. Link, a scholar of repute, has written extensively on Chinese
intellectuals who made demands for democratization in China. Link writes that,
when Liu visited the University of Oslo in 1988, he was surprised that European
Sinologists did not speak Chinese (they only read it) and was disappointed at
how nave Westerners were in accepting Chinese government language at face
value (p. xvi). This phrase reveals Lius negative view of foreign Sinologists, de-
spite his ignorance of their intellectual production, but it also reflects his rather
impulsive way of expressing himself. It is true that some European Sinologists of
the older generation did not speak Chinese, but this is rarely the case nowadays,
and Lius broad reference to Westerners constitutes a simplification that fails
to appreciate the different views and attitudes towards official Chinese discourse
among people living in Western countries.
Lius texts in No Enemies, No Hatred have been carefully chosen from among
hisnumerous articles, essays and poems. They are organized in four parts: Pol
itics with Chinese Characteristics, Culture and Society, China and the World
and Documents. The book includes a total of 30 essays and 15 poems written
over the past two decades. It was his wife, Liu Xia, who selected the poems. The
book also includes a bibliography of Lius works and of websites on him, as well
as a useful index.
The editors provide background information for many of the texts. All the es-
says were written after the Tiananmen Massacre of 4 June 1989, a critical event
that changed Liu forever. The first essay and two poems are his reflections on the
massacre. In Listen Carefully to the Voices of the Tiananmen Mothers, an ex-
cerpted version of Lius speech on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the massacre,
Liu regards himself as a student of Ding Ziling.
The next essay, To Change a Regime by Changing a Society, is also key for un-
derstanding Lius attitudes and political position. It was used against him during
his trial. In it, Liu expresses hope for the Chinese people: each individual should
try to live an honest life with dignity. He recognizes the weakness of civil society
and the unlikelihood of rapid change in China, but advocates the moral strength
of non-violence. At the same time, moving away from traditional Chinese legal
theory, he writes that virtuous government is not just the maintenance of or-
der, but, more importantly, the establishment of conditions for human dignity
(p. 25). Reason, tolerance, peace and compassion are his proposed tools for a
long program of total social transformation, triggered by a nonviolent human

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 Reviews 191

rights movement, a theme also present in the 1998 short essay, On Living with
Dignity in China.
The variety of problems addressed in Lius essays show his broad interests. In
State Ownership of Land Is the Authorities Magic Wand for Forced Eviction,
Liu discusses problems of forced evictions in the name of public interest. He
calls for the abolition of state ownership of land. A few months later, in The
Land Manifestos of Chinese Farmers, Liu analyzes the revolution in Chineseru
ralareas since 1978. He focuses on the demands for land ownership made byfarm
ers,and suggests a second revolution to give farmers rights as citizens.
Throughout the book, Liu underlines the importance of the Internet in so-
cialchange. In The Significance of the Wengan Incident, he focuses on citizen
mobilization through the Internet. In Long Live the Internet, he points out its
contribution to freedom of expression in China. Here as elsewhere, the editors
do not introduce Lius writings in chronological order, though this would have
enabled readers to understand better the development of Lius thought over time.
The Spiritual Landscape of the Urban Young in Post-Totalitarian China and
Bellicose and Thuggish: The Roots of Chinese Patriotism at the Dawn of the
21st Century are some of the most powerful essays in the book. Here Liu under-
lines the crisis of legitimacy and argues that people no longer believe in anything.
Nationalism has become the greatest of social passions among significant sectors
of the Chinese young. According to Liu, this kind of patriotism has two sides:
vehement, heroic talk against foreigners, and cowardly inaction against the ills
of their own society (p. 52). In the second piece, written earlier (in 2002), Liu
analyzes what he describes as bellicose nationalism during the Mao Era, cynical
Patriotism of the Deng Xiaoping Era and Thuggish and Bellicose Patriotism
afterwards. He not only criticizes consumerism, nationalism and bellicose pa-
triotism, but also underlines the extent to which the school curricula and con-
trolledmedia have educated people to hatred.
Part II of No Enemies, No Hatred examines his writings about the cultural ex-
pressions of other Chinese intellectuals. Lius critical views on Ba Jin, penned
shortly after the latter died on 17 October 2005, are presented here. The Erotic
Carnival in Recent Chinese History and From Wang Shuos Wicked Satire to
Hu Ges EGAO: Political Humor in a Post-Totalitarian Dictatorship, written in
2004 and 2006, are interesting examples of how Liu goes from an analysis of
contemporary commercial literature to a deeper discussion of Chinese political
and social problems. In Yesterdays Stray Dog Becomes Todays Guard Dog, his
iconoclastic streak appears again in a critique of Confucianism. The last essay of
Part II, Imprisoning People for Words and the Power of Public Opinion, writ-
tenin 2008, can be read today as a personal discussion on his own hopes and fate.
Part III of No Enemies, No Hatred is devoted to China and the World. All but
two of the essays here, as well as the poems, were written in 2008. In a critique of

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192 T H E C H I N A J O U R N A L , No. 71

the Chinese economic miracle, Liu contends that it came at the price of disre-
gard for personal freedoms and the public good, serving the legitimation of the
CCP and the financial interest of the power lite. Liu also criticized the Olympic
Gold Medal Syndrome, underlining the price paid by lite athletes in China.
In two essays, Liu argues that the political situation in Hong Kong and Tibet
are linked to the mainlands quest for freedom. Liu frames the conflict in Tibet
as between dictatorship and freedom, not between Han and Tibetans. Obamas
Election, the Republican Factor, and a Proposal for China is the last text in this
section. It expresses his admiration for the election of Barack Obama asPresi
dentof the United States and advocates negotiation with the Dalai Lama, whom
he surprisingly calls our Barack Obama. Liu recognizes that he has limited
knowledge of foreign intellectual discussions; his writing is centered on China,
and that might be why it seems difficult to place his contributions in an interna-
tional intellectual debate.
Part IV, the last section, includes translations of documents such as The June
Second Hunger Strike Declaration, A Letter to Liao Yiwu (the writer and poet
who spent four years in prison and wrote about his conditions and experiences
injail), Charter 08 and other documents relating to Lius trial.
Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China, edited
by Jean-Philippe Bja, Fu Hualing and Eva Pils, begins at the point at which No
Enemies, No Hatred ends. Bja, Fu and Pils also have broad scholarly experience in
the analysis of Chinese intellectuals, human rights and law in China. This book is
the result of a series of conferences and seminars organized by the Faculty of Law
at the University of Hong Kong in the aftermath of Lius conviction. In Chapter 1,
Is Jail the Only Place Where One Can Live in Truth? Liu Xiaobos Experience,
Bja traces Lius personal path from rebel to defender of ethics and truth, com-
paring some of his experiences with those of other intellectuals of hisgeneration.
Liu is portrayed as a much-respected intellectual, acting in broad daylight, and
coherent in his words and behavior. In Chapter 2, Joshua Rosenzweig traces the
use of counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement as a flexible label of
condemnation from 1949, which changed after the 1997 Criminal Law revision
to inciting subversion of state power. He examines previous sentences based
on this major crime and the different accusations offered by the prosecution.
Rosenzweig then discusses technical aspects and procedures followed by attor-
neys in Lius case.
The next chapter, by Mo Shaoping, Gao Xia, L Xi and Chen Zerui, continues
the discussion of criminal lawMo was among the first signatories of Charter 08,
and participated in Lius defense. The chapter discusses the difficulties that face
lawyers in politically sensitive cases. The authors make a final call for a fair trial
and independent judges to ensure observance of domestic law and international
human rights standards.

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 Reviews 193

In Chapter 4, Cui Weiping, one of the first signatories of Charter 08 and a

member of Lius generation, tells how, after the 11-year sentence was imposed on
Liu, she tried to collect the views of contemporary intellectuals and make them
public on Twitter. When they received Cuis request, many had serious difficul-
ties in declaring their position. This personal and moving chapter depicts the
contradictions which Chinese intellectuals experience.
Boundaries of Tolerance (Chapter 5), by Pitman B. Potter and Sophia
Woodman, begins a new section, and returns to a discussion of Charter 08 in the
framework of debates over political reform, arguing that the legitimacy of pro-
posals for reform is determined not so much by their content as by the iden-
tity and status of the speaker, and the location and time of the speech (p. 97).
Potter and Woodman propose the idea of a segmented public, to determine a
persons status as enemy in legal terms. In their view, Liu received such a se-
vere sentence because of different levels of constraint, unwritten rules and fac-
tors (giving face), along with the importance of other historical and cumulative
causes. These discussions are convincing: Liu was considered dangerous not only
because of his words but also because of his attitude. The challenge posed by
Charter 08 is made even more intense by Liu Xiaobos conduct throughout his
trial and imprisonment (p. 108). Potter and Woodman conclude that, after the
challenge posed by Charter 08, change is no longer optional (p. 117).
In Chapter 6, Feng Chongyi offers a less optimistic perspective. For Feng,
Charter 08 can be seen as a moderate proposal that uses ideas and concepts al-
ready present in legal and political documents of the CCP. Nevertheless, he be-
lieves that it could be considered a serious threat to the regime, since it indicates
the growing emergence of a grand coalition of liberal forces in China.
Man Yee Karen Lee in Chapter 7 focuses on what she considers the Chinese
peoples quest for democracy as their ultimate search for dignity. Lee also intro
duces the case of Wei Jingsheng, and analyzes the concept of dignity among Chi
nese intellectuals and politicians, in Confucian tradition and in modern Chinese
constitutions and laws.
In Chapter 8, Charter 08 and Charta 77, Michaela Kotyzova seeks differences
in scope and social impact between the two manifestos, comparing the social,
political and economic backgrounds in Czechoslovakia and in China. She points
out that the Hungarian government was brought down in 1989 more as a result of
the unwillingness of then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to intervene militarily
again than as an effect of Charta 77. She holds that, like Charta 77, Charter08
might perhaps prepare for political transition by maintaining a critical culture
and producing a pool of capable and trusted people ready to undertake leader-
ship roles, in the event of the regimes demise.
Fu Hualing, in Chapter 9 (Challenging Authoritarianism Through Law),
analyzes how the challenges posed by dissident intellectuals, lawyers and other

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194 T H E C H I N A J O U R N A L , No. 71

citizen activists deal with and push on the authoritarian system and how, at the
same time, the system pushes back and responds to the confrontation with en-
hanced violence and repressiveness. Fu concludes that public-interest litigation
is tolerated only when it does not challenge the legitimacy of the one-Party state.
In Chapter 10, Michael W. Dowdle examines the constitutional meaning of
Charter 08. He explores the modern notion of the constitution and empha-
sizes the social component, using the concept of popular constitutionalism, in
the Chinese sociopolitical context, looking at the trial of Jiang Qisheng, post-
Tiananmen political evolution, Chinese petitions, NGOs and Hu Jintaos politi-
cal turn after 2003.
Pils chapter, Charter 08 and Violent Resistance: The Dark Side of the Chinese
Weiquan Movement, seeks to understand the impact and meaning of Char
ter08 in the broader Chinese rights defense movement. She finds that views and
attitudes are not homogeneous, and analyzes the tensions between lawyers, pe-
titioners and other rights defenders in reaction to the States maintenance of
stability. Pils accounts for an increase in group or individual repression during
recent years and also discusses the lack of a general consensus on the efficacy of
a pacifist response to a government that has not abandoned practices of power,
abuse and violence.
Willy Wo-Lap Lam (Chapter 12) examines Lius harsh sentence, seeing it as a
clear message to intellectuals and ordinary citizensCharter 08 collected some
20,000 signatures within China before being banned. Lam describes how the
CCP has shown a willingness for reconciliation with different sectors in China,
either political or economic, but there has been very little improvement regard-
ing dissidents and ideological diversity.
After Teng Biao submitted the essay which forms the last chapter of Liu
Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China (The Political
Meaning of the Crime of Subverting State Power), he suffered disappearance
for 70 days, before being allowed to return to his home in Beijing. In the essay,
Teng reviews the legal history of repression of counter revolutionaries in to-
talitarian, post-totalitarian and neo-totalitarian (post-1989) China. He provides
a very detailed account of prosecutions for subverting state power. His well-
informed and authoritative analysis concludes by praising the sacrifice of po-
litical prisoners and prisoners of conscience, a sacrifice that he believes will be
validated by history.
No Enemies, No Hatred is a very interesting book which all academics and the
general public interested in current Chinese affairs will find worth reading, while
Liu Xiaobo, Charter 08 and the Challenges of Political Reform in China will be
particularly useful for specialists looking for enhanced debate on issues related to
theclosing and opening of the Chinese legal and political systems. Both books are
edited by outstanding scholars and are first-rate analyses of the problems faced

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 Reviews 195

today by Chinese society and the Chinese Communist Party. Lius case demon-
strates that there is still a long way to go towards public and individual freedom
in China. His position as an intellectual is not beyond dispute, but nobody can
deny his thought-provoking, sharp and brave observations. In short, reading Liu,
not as a research scholar but as a political activist who stands for non-violent
struggle, is a must for a better understanding of the multiple contradictions of
contemporary Chinese society and politics.

Tatiana Fisac
Universidad Autnoma de Madrid

Participation and Empowerment at the Grassroots: Chinese VillageElec

tions in Perspective, by Gunter Schubert and Anna L. Ahlers. Lanham:Lex
ington Books, 2012. x + 230 pp. US$65.00/39.95 (hardcover), US$64.99/
39.95 (eBook).

Since the first election took place in Hezhai Village in Guangxi Province in 1980,
Chinese village elections have spread throughout the nation and become one
of the most researched areas in the study of Chinese politics. Gunter Schubert
and Anna L. Ahlers provide a rich and comprehensive discussion of this im-
portant topic. They focus on how village elections impacted on the political le-
gitimacy of officials and governments at the grassroots level (p. 2). They argue
that, although elections are not likely to spread to higher levels of government,
the implementation of direct elections has gone hand in hand with a new sense
of individual empowerment on the part of the peasants (p. 160; italics in origi-
nal) and that village elections contribute to the resilience of one-Party rule, at
least in the short term, by bringing stability to rural areas because grass-roots
cadres care more about villagers interests. They base this argument on surveys
and interviews conducted with 179 respondents in six villages across three prov-
inces (two villages in each of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Jilin Provinces). Of the
179 respondents, 45 are from Guangdong (23 from Zhangshubu Village and 22
from Shuijing), 72 are from Jiangxi (36 from Louxia and 36 from Xiagong) and
62 are from Jilin (32 from Huajiadian and 30 from Balimiao). Most (163) of the
respondents are villagers, and 16 of them are village cadres. Schubert and Ahlers
also interviewed higher-level cadres (6 in Guangdong, 11 in Jiangxi and 10 in
Jilin).
Schubert and Ahlers take the introduction of village elections as given and as
an independent (exogenous) variable. This research framework is fair, as this po-
litical institution was implemented universally throughout the nation and one

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