From Reuters: “Chinese authorities have detained liberal author Yu Jie, two sources close to him said on Monday, in what appeared to be part of a government crackdown on intellectuals.
The Communist Party, which has monopolised politics in China since 1949, recently intensified its crackdown, ordering newspapers and magazines not to give publicity to Yu and five other intellectuals critical of the party.
‘Yu Jie and his wife were taken away. The reason is unknown,’ said one source who spoke on condition of anonymity. Calls to Yu’s Beijing home went unanswered.
Yu writes novels and political commentaries. The party’s propaganda tsars have banned many of his
books. His ‘Refusing Lies’ was published in Hong Kong.”
According to Taiwan’s Central News Agency, via Dajiyuan.com: another independent Beijing author Liu Xiaobo is also under detention. Recently, both of them have been very vocal in protesting the arrest of Hunan poet Shi Tao.
UPDATE: The New York Times’ article is here. Some more details can be seen in the press release from China Information Center. The Washington Post Article is here.
