After 14 Tries, Chinese Dissident Liao Yiwu Allowed to Travel Abroad

By Wen Huang

In a move which a Chinese public security official described as “one of the many manifestations of social progress” in China, authorities in Sichuan province have finally granted Chinese writer Liao Yiwu an exit permit. After clearing Chinese immigration this morning, Liao has boarded a flight for Germany to attend the Berlin International Literary Festival and another lit fest in Hamburg this week.

“I can’t believe this is all happening,” said Liao from the airport in Beijing. “I look forward to attending the festivals.”

Dubbed as the “Studs Terkel of China,” Liao is the author of Corpse Walker, Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up, which records and chronicles the lives of people living at the bottom of society, who have been caught in tumultuous changes in contemporary China. For many years, the Chinese leadership viewed his writings as subversive, as they are critical of the socialist system. His epic poem “Massacre”, composed in 1989 in condemnation of the government’s bloody crackdown at Tiananmen Square, landed him in jail for four years. All of his books remain banned in China, though he is well-known in Western countries such as Germany and the United States.

In the past three years, Liao has received invitations to attend literary festivals in Australia, Japan, Germany and the United States, but each of his fourteen applications for an exit visa was denied on grounds that his trip could jeopardize “state security.” In March 2010, while boarding a plane to attend a literary festival in Cologne, Germany, Liao was detained by Chinese public security officers and placed under house arrest in his hometown of Chengdu, Sichuan.

Liao attributes the success of his 15th attempt to the persistence of the German literary community and the pressures of the international community.

Two days before his scheduled trip, Liao received a text message from a local public security officer, wishing him a safe trip and urging him to “cherish the hard-earned opportunity” and acknowledge China’s social progress during his stay in Germany.

Liao says he is not a political activist, and that as a writer, poet and musician, he’ll continue to “tell the truth about China.” While in Germany, he will read from his literary works and perform on the Xiao, a flute-like instrument he had learned to play while in prison.

Wen Huang was the translator of Corpse Walker into English.