After Nobel, Liu leader of transcendent moral stature
Oct. 9 (WSJ/by Perry Link): By awarding Chinese literary critic Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel committee did more than recognize one of the mainland’s most prominent and worthy dissidents. They endorsed the idea that “China” can be something different from, and better than, the Chinese government. They may have helped hundreds of millions of Chinese to see and feel this truth more clearly.
What Charter 08 and Mr. Liu are saying is, “No, ‘China’ can be something different, something better than a worn-out, old-style authoritarian government.” Giving the Peace Prize to Mr. Liu provides a huge boost to that new vision of what China can be.
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Note: Mr. Link teaches at the University of California, Riverside. He worked with the drafters of Charter 08 to translate the document into English.