From Wang Shiwei to Liu Xiaobo: Prisoners of Literary Inquisition Under Communist Rule in China (1947-2010)

In fact, the number of writers killed under CPC rule far exceeds 46,000, and the number imprisoned is incalculable. This volume collects 64 cases occurring from 1947 to 2010, with one emblematic case for each year, but these represent just the tip of the iceberg. The CPC has officially acknowledged that 550,000 people were labeled “Rightists” from 1957 to 1959, mostly through various types of literary inquisition, making the 130-plus cases of the Qianlong period pale in comparison. This volume describes the cases of 12 “Rightist” victims – Sun Mingxun, Feng Xuefeng, Lin Xiling, Ding Ling, Ai Qing, Lin Zhao, Wang Ruowang, Wang Zaoshi, Chen Fengxiao, Yuan Changying, Nie Gannu and Liu Binyan, obviously only a minute proportion. In the single case of the “anti-Party” novel Liu Zhidan, more than 10,000 people were persecuted, the most wide-ranging literary inquisition in Chinese history. In the case of Wang Shenyou’s love letter, Wang ripped up the letter before sending it, but he was forced to rewrite it and was then executed for his “unspoken criticism”. A multitude of such cases demonstrates that literary inquisition has reached its fullest flowering under CPC rule.