{"id":98560,"date":"2010-09-24T13:53:17","date_gmt":"2010-09-24T20:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=98560"},"modified":"2010-09-24T13:53:17","modified_gmt":"2010-09-24T20:53:17","slug":"a-hero-of-the-china-underground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hero of the China Underground"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the New York Review of Books<\/a>, Howard French reviews<\/strong> The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up<\/a>\"\" by Liao Yiwu<\/a> (full article available with subscription only):<\/p>\n

\n

As a poet and chronicler of other people\u2019s lives, Liao Yiwu is a singular figure among the generation of Chinese intellectuals who emerged after the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Unlike the leaders of Beijing\u2019s student movement, people like Wang Dan and Wuer Kaixi, Liao had no part in organizing street demonstrations and has never explicitly engaged in political activism. Also unlike them, he never fled the country, a fact that has doubtless helped preserve him from becoming irrelevant within China, the fate of a great many \u00e9migr\u00e9 dissidents and authors. Moreover, Liao made his name not in Beijing but near Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, where on the night of the Tiananmen crackdown he composed \u201cMassacre,\u201d a long, impassioned epic poem of protest.<\/p>\n

Although he was already known as a rising young poet, Liao was sure that a poem like \u201cMassacre<\/a>\u201d was too controversial to be published, and so, ignoring friends\u2019 warnings for his safety, he decided to recite it into a cassette recorder, along with his own ritualistic chanting and howling. He then gave copies of the recording to his friends and others in the literary world, who in turn made and distributed many more copies, resulting in the rapid circulation around the country of the poem\u2019s powerful descriptions of violence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read also an article from the New Yorker about Liao Yiwu’s recent trip to Germany to attend literary festivals, via CDT<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the New York Review of Books, Howard French reviews The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu (full article available with subscription only): As a poet and chronicler of other people\u2019s lives, Liao Yiwu is a singular figure among the generation of Chinese intellectuals who emerged after the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20,7,100],"tags":[5900,6642,1289,4311,1766],"class_list":["post-98560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-information-revolution","category-politics","tag-june-4th","tag-liao-yiwu","tag-literature","tag-underground-publishing","tag-writers","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nA Hero of the China Underground<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Hero of the China Underground\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the New York Review of Books, Howard French reviews The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu (full article available with subscription only): As a poet and chronicler of other people\u2019s lives, Liao Yiwu is a singular figure among the generation of Chinese intellectuals who emerged after the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"China Digital Times (CDT)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cdt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sophie Beach\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\"},\"headline\":\"A Hero of the China Underground\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\"},\"wordCount\":273,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379\",\"keywords\":[\"June 4th\",\"Liao Yiwu\",\"literature\",\"underground publishing\",\"writers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Culture & the Arts\",\"Information Revolution\",\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\",\"name\":\"A Hero of the China Underground\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Hero of the China Underground\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times (CDT)\",\"description\":\"Covering China from Cyberspace\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization\",\"name\":\"China Digital Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg\",\"width\":186,\"height\":177,\"caption\":\"China Digital Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/cdt\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663\",\"name\":\"Sophie Beach\",\"description\":\"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Hero of the China Underground","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Hero of the China Underground","og_description":"In the New York Review of Books, Howard French reviews The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up by Liao Yiwu (full article available with subscription only): As a poet and chronicler of other people\u2019s lives, Liao Yiwu is a singular figure among the generation of Chinese intellectuals who emerged after the […]","og_url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/","og_site_name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","article_published_time":"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Sophie Beach","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cdt","twitter_site":"@cdt","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sophie Beach","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/"},"author":{"name":"Sophie Beach","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663"},"headline":"A Hero of the China Underground","datePublished":"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/"},"wordCount":273,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379","keywords":["June 4th","Liao Yiwu","literature","underground publishing","writers"],"articleSection":["Culture & the Arts","Information Revolution","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/","url":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/","name":"A Hero of the China Underground","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379","datePublished":"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00","dateModified":"2010-09-24T20:53:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chinadigitalt-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0307388379"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2010\/09\/a-hero-of-the-china-underground\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Hero of the China Underground"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","name":"China Digital Times (CDT)","description":"Covering China from Cyberspace","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#organization","name":"China Digital Times","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/CDT-logo.jpg","width":186,"height":177,"caption":"China Digital Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ChinaDigitalTimes","https:\/\/x.com\/cdt"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/#\/schema\/person\/7f19e31b674d57a7dc20aab8e908c663","name":"Sophie Beach","description":"Sophie Beach is CDT's Operations and Communications Manager. From 2003-2021, she served as Executive Editor of CDT English. She lives in Berkeley, California.","sameAs":["http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net"],"url":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/author\/sophie-beach\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}