Press release
15 October 2012
The Swedish Academy has awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature to the Chinese Writer Mr. Mo Yan after awarding the 2000 prize to the first Chinese writer Mr. Gao Xingjian, a French citizen. Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) congratulates Mr. Mo Yan on the fact that he is first Chinese writer residing in China who has been awarded this highest honor of international literary world, thus becoming the second Chinese citizen as a Nobel Prize Laureate, following Dr. Liu Xiaobo, ICPC’s former and honorary President, who won the peace prize in 2010. It has been reported that Mr. Mo said at a press conference held in his hometown after the announcement of the award that he hoped that Mr. Liu Xiaobo, now serving his sentence of 11 years imprisonment, would be free as soon as possible. For this, ICPC expresses sincere gratitude to Mr. Mo and hopes that Mr. Mo, a vice chairman of the official Chinese Writers’ Association as well as a vice-president of China PEN Center, can join force with all members of PEN International to uphold PEN’s mission and tradition on defending freedom of expression and be more concerned about the current situation of freedom of speech and freedom to write in China, particularly about fellow Chinese writers, including Liu Xiaobo, who are persecuted for their words, and help them to regain their freedom as soon as possible.
As an organization of promoting literature, ICPC has always been aware of Mr. Mo’s long-term contributions to Chinese literature. Mr. Mo is a renowned contemporary novelist, as the Swedish Academy recognized in its press release, “who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary”. He has published a large number of short stories, novella and novels, including Red Sorghum Family, Song of Heaven Garlic Sprout, Wine Country, Plump Breast and Fleshy Buttock, Sandalwood Penalty, Fatigue of Life and Death, and Frog. His works have become well recognized both in China and abroad and so received several literary awards in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries. Mr. Mo’s novels, with its unique style of realism under contemporary China’s authoritarianism, told the stories of the tragic lives, sufferings and struggles of the ordinary people. It is noteworthy that Mr. Mo Yan successfully introduced the style of magic realism, which was developed in other authoritarian countries, into the literary tradition of authoritarian China. With the demostic and international honors, he becomes the second official writer of the Communist Party who won the Nobel Prize in Literature after Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, chairman of the former Soviet Writers Association and the laureate in 1965. Apparently, it is the realist spirit and literary attainment of Mr. Mo’s works for the Swedish Academy to have awarded him.
As a human rights organization for writers, on the other hand, ICPC also noted with regret that Mr. Mo Yan has long neglected PEN’s mission to defend the freedom of expression for others. There is a huge contradiction between the realist tendency in his literary works and his political character as an official writer of the Communist Party, which has caused widespread controversy over his awarding of the Nobel prize. In recent years, Mr. Mo’s words and deeds in international events like the Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany in 2009 and the London Book Fair this year attracted many criticisms. This year, he participated as one of 100 writers and artists in an activity organized by the Chinese authority for the celebration of 70th anniversary by transcribing Mao Zedong’s Talks at Yan’an Forom on Literature and Art, the infamous guidance of Chinese Communist Party which has damaged Chinese literature and art for 70 years. These actions, contrary to the identity of a PEN member, have been disappointing. Therefore, ICPC would like to call on Mr. Mo to pay attention to these flaws in order to be truly unregretful to the demand expressed in Mr. Nobel’s will for the honour ” to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”.
At the same time, ICPC hopes that Mr. Mo Yan and his supporters remember a old Chinese saying: “The misfortune of the nation leads to the fortune of its poets”, and urges them to pay attention to the following facts: China is still a country with little freedom of expression and press; The censorship of news and publication has greatly restricted citizens’ freedom of expression and seriously damaged the writers’ freedom of creation. A lot of talented writers have lost their freedom, creation environments, particularly the opportunities to publish in mainland China.
According to the information of PEN, there are still more than 30 Chinese writers and journalists in prison for their words, and a much larger number of writers suffering from violating their human rights for their works. Among them are many of PEN members and honorary members, including the literary critic and poet Liu Xiaobo serving his 11-year imprisonment, and his wife and poet Liu Xia held under house arrest for two years since Liu Xiaobo awarded to Noble Peace Prize; Zhu Yufu, a writer sentenced this year to seven years imprisonment mainly for a poem he wrote after his release from a 9-year imprisonment; Yang Tongyan (aka Yang Tianshui), a novelist and poet serving his 12-year sentence in jail after a previous 10-year imprisonment; Shi Tao, a journalist and poet serving his 10-year imprisonment; Nurmuhemmet Yasin, an Uighur novelist and poet serving his 10-year imprisonment; Hada, a Mongolian writer whose whereabouts is unknown after 15-year imprisonment; Yu Jie, an author forced to take asylum in the United States this year after he was silenced by brutal beatings and tortures over one year for his book; Liao Yiwu, a poet and author forced into exile in Germany last year; Jiao Guobiao, released on bail after detention for two weeks recently; Ma Jian, a London-based novelist, and Bei Ling, a Germany-based poet and publisher, both of whom have been denied entry to China.
ICPC urges the Chinese authorities to be aware of the trend of world civilization, to restore Liu Xia’s freedom, and immediately and unconditionally release Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, PEN members Shi Tao, Yang Tongyan, Zhu Yufu and others imprisoned for their words. ICPC hopes that Mr. Mo Yan and member of other PEN Centers in China to join us, not only to promote Chinese literature but also defend civil rights of freedom of expression which China’s Constitution has guaranteed.
International PEN is the oldest human rights organization and international literary organization. The Independent Chinese PEN Centre is among its 145 member centers and aims to defend writers’ freedom of expression and freedom to write worldwide and advocates for the rights of writers and journalists who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted or harassed in China particularly.
For more information, please contact
Patrick Poon, Executive Secretary
Tel: +852-94173765 Email: [email protected]
Yu Zhang, Dr.
Coordinator of Press & Translation Committee
Tel: +46-8-50022792 email: [email protected], [email protected]
Websites: http://www.chinesepen.org/english and http://www.liuxiaobo.eu/