Literature ban

This is not the first time Liao Yiwu has felt the hard hand of the Chinese government. In October, just last year he was barred from taking part in the Frankfurt Book Fair. In a telephone interview on Monday, he told Deutsche Welle what happened this time:

"Are you Mr. Liao Yiwu"

"My flight was supposed to be at 11:30 this morning. I passed security and boarded the plane. Then a flight attendant approached me and asked if I was Mr. Liao Yiwu. I said yes. She said, 'someone is looking for you'. I asked who it was and she said it would be best if I got my luggage. That's when I understood something was wrong. I got my bags and while I was walking to the cabin door, I saw a police officer."

Liao Yiwu was taken to the local police station, where he waited for some time. Then he was picked up by four police officers. "It seemed like something I know well. The five of us drove to the police station in the district I live in, Wenjiang. They interrogated me and protocolled it and gave me a transcript. They asked me where I wanted to go. I told them I was going to the literature festival, lit.Cologne, in Germany. They asked me what kind of people organized the event. What did they ask you to do? I answered all their questions. They photocopied my lit.Cologne ticket and gave me a copy. Afterward, they told me I will not be allowed to go to Cologne."

No stranger to Chinese justice

In the early 1990's, Liao Yiwu was jailed for three years for writing a poem about the massacre at Tian'anmen Square and has been on China's black list ever since. For many, being on the black list is just as good as being in prison. "They said, you cannot continue doing whatever you want. I told them there will be many readers at the festival. I would like to go and meet them and read some of my own pieces and play the traditional Chinese mouth organ, the xiao. I said it was purely a literature festival and nothing political. They said they understood and were only doing their job, following orders from the top. They said it was a national matter. They brought me home and told me not to leave. And that if I had to leave, I should tell them so they can keep track of my whereabouts."

When asked what he will do now, Liao Yiwu responded: "right now I can't do anything. I can only wait at home. I have nowhere to go. It is a despairing situation."

The lit.Cologne literature festival would have given him a large platform. Last year's event attracted 65,000 visitors. But this year's organizers say no matter what happens, the reading from Liao Yiwu's book "The Corpse Walker: Real Life Stories: China From the Bottom Up" will take place on March 19.

Author: Sarah Berning
Editor: Grahame Lucas