Bowdoin Lecture

Dear CAFAM Members,

Bowdoin College is hosting an important public lecture; please consider attending.

What: “A Nobel Prize and a Prison Term: the Life and Thought of Liu Xiaobo” Who: Prof. Perry Link
When: Thursday, March 3, 2016; 4:15 pm – 5:30 pm
Where: Bowdoin College, Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

Free and open to the public

About Perry Link and his public lecture:

Known as one of the foremost experts on China in the West, Prof. Perry Link, Chancellorial Chair for Innovative Teaching at University of California-Riverside, will visit Bowdoin College to give a talk entitled A Nobel Prize and a Prison Term: the Life and Thought of Liu Xiaobo.

Liu Xiaobo, a renowned literary critic, writer, and political activist in China, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Liu was serving an eleven-year prison sentence at the time, however, and was unable to attend the Nobel ceremony in Oslo, where he was represented symbolically by an empty chair. In response, Prof. Link translated and edited a volume of Liu Xiaobo’s essays and poems, published by Harvard University Press as Liu Xiaobo’s Empty Chair.

Prof. Link’s talk will lead the audience to a comprehensive understanding of Liu’s conception of democracy by situating it against China’s special social-political system. The talk will help the audience understand what Liu’s work, especially “Charter 08,” the pro-democracy manifesto, means to a dissident who calls for political reform, greater human rights, and an end to one-party rule in China. More important, Prof. Link’s talk will release a voice that has been silenced in China, one he has helped to find expression through writing in English translation. In other words, Perry Link’s presence at Bowdoin and his sharing of Liu’s thoughts will fill the empty chair on stage with conversation and discussion.
Liu_Xiaobo_Perry_Link_Poster_2016_3-3.pdf