‘Not an Isolated Incident’

President Barack Obama will visit China this year. What would you say to him if you could?
I congratulate him on being a black man elected the president of the United States, and also Hillary Clinton on being a woman appointed the American secretary of state. I hope Obama will keep the promise that he made in his inaugural speech. I hope Obama will … rescue Liu Xiaobo [the human-rights activist detained Dec. 9 because of his involvement with the pro-democracy manifesto known as Charter 08, initially signed by 300 prominent Chinese]. We victims in China have all been watching President Obama and hope he does well. He promised change in his inaugural speech; we hope he can realize that.

Tell me what you know about Liu Xiaobo's detention.
Liu is now staying in a 10-square-meter windowless room. The only window is inside the bathroom of the detention center. I feel very disappointed by the world community's response to Liu's arrest. As a humanitarian request, the international community should appeal to the Chinese government to release Liu and allow him to be with his wife.

This year marks a number of politically sensitive anniversaries in China, not just that of June 4. What do you predict for the rest of this year?
The year of 2009 is a hard year for the Communist Party. It has to pass through the "gateway of ghosts" in 2009 because it killed so many young people during June 4. This is also the 50th anniversary of the exile of the Dalai Lama. The Communist Party usurped power by killing people, so it feels the tension. In 1988, Deng Xiaoping said that by killing 20,000 people, China would be able to sustain 20 years of peace and stability. People all over the country felt very angry about the killings at the time. Now, with the passing of time, some people have begun to forget the tragedy.

Are you saying that the government need not tell the truth about June 4 or that it dares not tell the truth?
It dares not. June 4 was not an isolated incident. This year is also the year of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. I told police that this is actually the 60th anniversary of power being usurped by the Communist Party of China. In 1949, I was only a 13-year-old girl studying in Suzhou. I saw with my own eyes how the Chinese government of the time suppressed and killed people from the Kuomintang Party [which was defeated by the Communists during China's civil war] who'd remained in the mainland. It killed truckloads and truckloads of people … Therefore, if the issue of June 4 is resolved fairly, what would they do about the issue of the Cultural Revolution? The persecuted followers of the Falun Gong movement? Tibet? They dare not.

How do you plan to commemorate June 4?
My husband and I have been busy with a big writing project in preparation for the anniversary. We were in his hometown in Jiangsu province last October, and two Hong Kong friends visited us. Police came into the house without even knocking. They grabbed me and tried to take me to the police station. I refused and told them they should show me their ID cards and go through proper legal formalities. I shouted that if they failed to show me their documents, it means they are breaking the law … A few days later, my husband passed out, and I called for an ambulance. Doctors said he'd had a stroke. After we returned to Beijing, doctors examined him, and he could not even remember our home phone number … they said he'd likely live simply like a vegetable. But [since] he was discharged from the hospital, I've been helping him with physical training and memory training. He's recovering well. He began working on the computer again—I don't know how to use the computer—to finish this writing project. He's very tired.

Is he risking his health?
True, if my husband hadn't been working so much he could have recovered sooner. We've been risking our lives to complete this project; my husband finished typing it up at the end of March. It's not a book; it's a continuation of our earlier declarations on social justice.