Liu Xiaobo Commemorates Tiananmen with ‘June Fourth Elegies’
Not everyone wants to forget Tiananmen Square. Chinese poet Liu Xiaobo wrote a series of poems in the 20 years following the 1989 crackdown.
Liu was a leading activist in 1989 and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, but he was not able to claim his prize in person as the Chinese government imprisoned him for “inciting subversion of state power.”
His book, June Fourth Elegies, has been translated into English by Jeffrey Yang. Anchor Marco Werman talks with him about the essence of Liu’s poetry.
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