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Bob Chilcott’s work ending this lunchtime recital has been written especially for British mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, who also includes a selection of songs from Mahler’s cycle of German folk poem settings.
Bob Chilcott’s work ending this lunchtime recital has been written especially for British mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, who also includes a selection of songs from Mahler’s cycle of German folk poem settings.
No Forbidden Zones in Reading (Lee Yee)
German philosopher Hegel said, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
In April 1979, the post-Cultural Revolution era of China, the first article of the first issue of Beijing-based literary magazine, Dushu [meaning “Reading” in Chinese]," shook up the Chinese literary world. The article, titled “No Forbidden Zones in Reading”, was penned by Li Honglin. At the time, the CCP had not yet emerged from the darkness of the Cultural Revolution. What was it like in the Cultural Revolution? Except for masterpieces by Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and a small fraction of practical books, all books were banned, and all libraries were closed. The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, and 2 years later in 1978, the National Publishing Bureau decided to allow 35 books to be “unbanned”. An interlude: When the ban was first lifted, there was no paper on which to print the books because the person with authority over paper was Wang Dongxing, a long-term personal security of Mao’s, who would only give authorization to print Mao. The access to use paper to print books other than Mao was a procedural issue. The Cultural Revolution was already on its way to be overturned. The door to printing these books was opened only after several hang-ups.
“No Forbidden Zones in Reading” in the first issue of Dushu raised a question of common sense: Do citizens have the freedom to read? “We have not enacted laws that restrict people’s freedom of reading. Instead, our Constitution stipulates that people have the freedom of speech and publication, as well as the freedom to engage in cultural activities. Reading ought to be a cultural activity,” argued Li. It was not even about the freedom of speech, but simply reading. Yet this common sense would appear as a subversion of the paralyzing rigid ideas formulated during the Cultural Revolution, like a tossed stone that raises a thousand ripples. Dushu’s editorial department received a large number of objections: first, that there would be no gatekeeper and mentally immature minors would be influenced by trashy literature; second, that with the opening of the Pandora box, feudalism, capitalism and revisionism would now occupy our cultural stage. The article also aroused waves of debates within the CCP. Hu Yaobang, then Minister of Central Propaganda, transferred and appointed Li Honglin as the Deputy Director of the Theory Bureau in his department. A colleague asked him directly, “Can primary school students read Jin Pin Mei [also known in English as The Plum in the Golden Vase, a Chinese novel of manners composed in late Ming dynasty with explicit depiction of sexuality]?”
“All Four Doors of the Library Should be Open” was published in the second issue of Dushu, as an extension to “No Forbidden Zones in Reading”. The author was Fan Yuming, but was really Zeng Yansiu, president of the People’s Publishing House.
In the old days, there was a shorthand for the three Chinese characters for “library”: “book” within a “mouth”. The four sides of the book are all wide open, meaning that all the shackles of the banned books are released. “No Forbidden Zones in Reading” explains this on a theoretical level: the people have the freedom to read; “All Four Doors of the Library Should be Open” states that other than special collection books, all other books should be available for the public to loan.
The controversy caused by “No Forbidden Zones in Reading” lasted 2 years, and in April 1981, at the second anniversary of Dushu, Director of the Publishing Bureau, Chen Hanbo, penned an article that reiterated that there are “No Forbidden Zones in Reading”, and that was targeting an “unprecedented ban on books that did happen”.
Books are records of human wisdom, including strange, boring, vulgar thoughts, which are all valuable as long as they remain. After Emperor Qin Shihuang burned the books, he buried the scholars. In history, the ban on books and literary crimes have never ceased.
Engraved on the entrance to Dachau concentration camp in Germany, a famous poem cautions: When a regime begins to burn books, if it is not stopped, they will turn to burn people; when a regime begins to silent words, if it is not stopped, they will turn to silent the person. At the exit, a famous admonishment: When the world forgets these things, they will continue to happen.
Heine, a German poet of the 19th century, came up with “burning books and burning people”. There was a line before this: This is just foreplay.
Yes, all burning and banning of books are just foreplay. Next comes the literary crimes, and then “burning people”.
I started working at a publishing house with a high school degree at 18, and lived my entire life in a pile of books. 42 years ago, when I read “No Forbidden Zones in Reading” in Dushu, I thought that banned books were a thing of the past. Half a century since and here we are, encountering the exact same thing in the freest zone for reading in the past century in the place which enlightened Sun Yat-sen and the rest of modern intellectuals, a place called Hong Kong.
Oh, Hegel’s words are the most genuine.
Rest In Peace. 🕯️🕯️🕯️
"The Chinese Government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death."
Statement by Ms Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee:
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo passed away today, July 13, 2017. The Norwegian Nobel Committee has received the news of his death with regret and great sadness.
Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 for his efforts to implement the fundamental human rights secured in international instruments as well as in the constitution of the People's Republic of China. He was a leading figure in the Chinese democracy movement for almost 30 years. The demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989 took him from an academic life to activism. He was one of the major contributors to Charter 08, the manifesto that pointed out China's obligations to secure fundamental human rights for its citizens. In his famous poem "I have no Enemies", we see a clear expression of his pacific attitude.
By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo the Norwegian Nobel Committee wanted to underscore the fundamental connection between developing democracy and creating and securing peace. Moreover, the Committee found that Liu Xiaobo had contributed to the fraternity of peoples through his non-violent resistance against the oppressive actions of the Communist regime in China.
Liu Xiaobo was not able to attend the Award Ceremony in Oslo in 2010. By then he had already been sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment, allegedly for attempting to undermine the current political order. In our view he had not committed any criminal act, but merely exercised his citizen's rights. His trial and imprisonment were unjust.
Liu Xiaobo's absence from the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony was marked by an empty chair. We now have to come to terms with the fact that his chair will forever remain empty. At the same time it is our deep conviction that Liu Xiaobo will remain a powerful symbol for all who fight for freedom, democracy and a better world. He belongs to a heritage of former Nobel laureates such as Carl von Ossietzky, Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrei Sakharov, Lech Walesa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela and Shirin Ebadi, to mention a few.
At the end of June the news reached us that Liu Xiaobo had been released from prison. He had been transferred to hospital, but was still under guard and held in complete isolation. We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill. The Chinese Government bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death.
The news of Liu Xiaobo's serious condition was met in part with silence and belated, hesitant reactions world wide. Eventually the governments of France, Germany, and the USA called for his unconditional release, as did the EU through its foreign policy spokesperson. It is a sad and disturbing fact that the representatives of the free world, who themselves hold democracy and human rights in high regard, are less willing to stand up for those rights for the benefit of others.
In the last days of his life, we had a hope that Liu Xiaobo would be released and safely evacuated for medical treatment abroad. This would have been in accordance with his own wishes and the recommendations of the German and American doctors who were allowed to visit him. While the whole world watched, China chose instead to maintain the isolation of its prisoner.
Today our hearts are filled with gratitude to Liu Xiaobo for his monumental efforts and great sacrifices to advance democracy and human rights. He was truly a prisoner of conscience and he paid the highest possible price for his relentless struggle. We feel confident that his efforts were not in vain. Liu Xiaobo was a representative of ideas that resonate with millions of people all over the world, even in China. These ideas cannot be imprisoned and will never die.
Photo: As a tribute to the absent Nobel Laureate, Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Medal and Diploma were placed on an empty chair during the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, 10 December 2010.
Photo: Ken Opprann.
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