In the following, you will find the full translation of Li Ao’s speech at Beijing University. I was working off an imperfect transcription (see Xinzhoubao; in Chinese) that contained some things that were obvious errors. Therefore, this translation contains some guesses by me as to what was really said. There are other versions (see China Times; in Chinese), but blogger Michael Anti (in Chinese) advises not to trust any of the transcriptions, whether they are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or mainland China. If you understand Chinese, the best bet is to find the actual video on the Internet (such as QQ; in Chinese). But if you don’t read or speak Chinese, you would normally have to depend on the western-media summary thereof, such as:
* Gadfly Taiwan writer calls for more academic freedom in address to mainland students Associated Press. September 21, 2005.
* Taiwan author riles China with acid speech. By Benjamin Kam Lin. Reuters. September 22, 2005.
* Li Ao wants Chinese Communist Party to rule 1,000 years China Post. September 22, 2005.
* Freedom of speech ‘like X-rated films’ By Irene Wang. South China Morning Post via Asia Media. September 22, 2005.
* Taiwan legislator tickles Beijing students UPI via Monsters and Critics. September 22, 2005.
* China Lectured by Taiwan Ally By Joseph Kahn New York Times September 23, 2005.
* China, meet the lusty Mr. Li Ao Taipei Times, September 23, 2005.But why should you read anything filtered and summarized through ideological lenses? You can read the whole thing right here at ESWN. And I won’t even bother to tell you what you ought to think. You are a grown-up and you can decide for yourself.
Read also: Li Ao’s Speech At Tsinghua University, translated by ESWN.
