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Li Ao: Essayist and Cultural Liberalist
Abstract
This manuscript focusses on the survey of the work of famous Chinese essayist known as
Li Ao. Among the unlimited stream of talented writers in the world, Li Ao has been very
prominent due to various reasons. This study has evaluates the impacts of the writings of Li Ao.
It also takes into consideration his life from childhood till now. The impacts of his writings on
the social media and all over the world has also been studied in this paper. Li Ao is considered a
very controversial image especially in the West. The reasons behind this reaction and
suggestions that could be taken to overcome the problem are also presented in the manuscript.
Although this publication cant be considered as a complete biography of Li Ao but it serves as a
highlight on the major contributions made by him and their impact.

Introduction
Chinese history and culture are rich in producing very notable and outstanding
contributors including authors, artists, historians, politicians and writers. The scope of both the
writers and authors is very wide which encompasses from a simple scenery sketch to very
controversial and serious topics like the policies adopted by individual organizations to
countries. Among the endless stream of writers, Li Ao has made himself a prominent due to

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various reasons discussed later in the publication. Although Li Ao has been generally treated as a
writer in China but the fact is that he is also a historian and a politician in his own sense. He is a
well-known essayist from Taiwan who has some major effect on the mainstream media.
Li Ao is regarded as ever present essayist in social media and authors. In this work, we
take a closer look on the impact of his contributions on not only general population but also on
the social media. During the past twenty years or so, Taiwan has been a very hot area all over the
world due to various issues. During this time Li Ao has stood up as a committed contributor. He
has always presented a unique perspective. Moreover, his works have ignited a debate on the
western world and various controversies have been raised. The work also investigates the era of
White Terror and the political view he has kept during the period.
Childhood Background
Li Ao was born on 25th of April in the year 1935 in the province named Heilongjiang. He
has a literate background in the sense that his father, Li Dingyi, was a professor of Chinese. After
the Civil War in China in the year 1949, his family moved to Taiwan.
Importance of study
The motivation behind the present study is that Li Ao has attached a lot of controversy
about his work and actions throughout the world. By one set he has been considered one of the
most prominent essayist throughout China. The importance of his worlk is embodied by the
impact it has made on the political reforms not only in China but worldwide. He has helped the
people to broaden the image of claiming their rights and the freedom of speech. He has also
magnified the general understanding of political issues and their understanding by humans.

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The basic reason behind his importance and popularity is the difference he brings from
the controversial beliefs and values among ordinary readers. His work are not confined to
specific fields but has impacts to multiple fields. Li Ao as a writer and author has covered not
only fictional work but also non-fictional which includes the daily human problems. In the social
medi, he is given the image of Robin Hood.
Controversy and political views
The controversy surrounding Li Ao is mainly due to his political views because of his
nature as a vocal critic on certain parties. He has faced controversies due to the reluctance and
the opposition to the parties like Kuomintang and DPP (Democratic Progressive Party). He has
criticized not only the parties in general but the polities in the likes of Chiang Kai and Chen Shui
because of their respective roles. Moreover, another reason for controversies surrounding him is
that he favors the concept of unification between Taiwan and China. Li Ao is a strong believer in
the nationalism process in China. He is given a lot of exposure on social media due to the above
mentioned reasons. He declines to consider himself as a Pan-Blue. Another direction of the
controversies concerning him are from the West where his written are banned from publishing.
Despite the issues surrounding the image of the Li Ao, he has been very popular in both China
and Taiwan as a writer.
Impact of His Work
Li Ao has a great impact on the literature of both China and Taiwan. He has also made
his presence in the social media in both the countries. The presence of his work in China can be
explained by the fact that China invited Mr. Li Ao for a tour of China. During the tour he even
made a speech in the Beijing University. The versatility of his work can be seen from his roles as

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author and historian as well. In the sixties, he presented works that gave rise to the freedom and
the manner in which his things should be taken. He also criticized on the manner in which the
government and its institutions are working. As a result of his criticism, he was incarcerated for
many years. The incarceration only increased his popularity as he was considered as a political
prisoner.
After his release, during the 1970s, Li Ao was given a international recognition after
being considered as a political prisoner. The prominence can be followed by the fact that he was
among the top three political prisoners in whole Taiwan during the year 1974. The incarceration
least effected the views of Li Ao. He still worked on the writings in the newspapers by criticizing
the government under the party of Kuomintang. The criticism had negative impact to the extent
that large percentage of the books by him were banned in the country until the early nineties.
The turning point of the career was his novel Mountaintop Love. The novel considers a
love story of daughter and her mother with the same person. The novel was the building block
for the status of Li. Another of his popular novels Martyrs Shine. The novel focuses on the
reform movement in China that took place in 1898. The message conveyed in the novel was
extraordinary that he was nominated for a Nobel Prize in the field of literature. In the year 2001,
Li published his autobiography. Major portion of the work by Li Ao consists of the non-fiction.
Li Ao published books at an exponential rate. At one time, he wrote even one book in a
month. He has been considered as one of the best scholars in Taiwan. His most important
contributions were novels although he also wrote on the real time situations in his own way. Due
to high levels of literature, Li Ao is sometimes compared to another famous author Ai Weiwei.

Li Ao and Ai Weiwei A Comparison

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The work of Li Ao is similar to another well-known Chinese writer Ai Weiwei. The
similarities originate from the principle they both rebel in the field of literature. Both the authors
are pressured and criticized by the government authorities in their respective countries.
Ai Weiwei is considered a genuine critique of the Chinese government. He uses high
tech to spread his actions. Technologies like the internet is the best mean for conveying
information all over the globe. He uses the internet to be recognized on the global stage. He
spreads the outrage among the people by mocking the government. He not only criticizes the
Chinese government but also the western media for their impact on the world. Another trait of Ai
Weiweis work is that he focuses not only on the politics but also on art. He is considered as a
broker between China and the western world. The political views of Ai Weiwei explains that in
order to truly save the country, the government must take steps to give rights of freedom of
expression. Moreover, he also expresses his desire that the rule of law should be established for
the country tom move in the right direction.
Return basic rights to the people, endow society with basic dignity, and only
then we have confidence and take responsibility, and thus face our collective
difficulties, Only rule of law can make the game equal, and only when it is equal
can peoples participation be extraordinary
Ai Weiwei makes use of the 21st century technology of internet to work solely on the
internet. On the other hand, Li Ao uses the traditional books and novels majorly for his work.
Because of the criticizing on western media, both the authors couldnt enter entirely on the West.
Most of the work by both authors is restricted in the western world. Keeping in mind this fact, Ai
Weiwei uses more effective means of communication than his counterpart. In the present world,
internet is the most effective means of communication because of various reasons. The reasons

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include, majority of the population of globe has access to the internet, and there is no restriction
in general to the contents on the internet. As a result, the message of Ai Weiwei is conveyed
more rigorously to the concerned persons.
On the other hand, Li Ao views can be summarized by the words he gave at the
university in China as:
"A group of slaves will never make a liberal and progressive country," he quoted
Mr. Hu as saying. "Such a country can be made up only of independent minded
and free-thinking people."

Both the authors are trying to promote the idea that population should be given basic
rights like freedom of speech and law rights. It is the responsibility of the respective
governments to ensure the basic rights be provided. The governments should not superimpose
their unrightfully acts on general public.
Li Ao as a political entity
Li Ao has also established himself in the field of politics. He supports the concept of
unification i.e. One country, two systems. The idea concerns the countries of Taiwan and China.
He considers that the merging of both the countries is inevitable. He suggests that Taiwan should
immediately surrender to the Republic of China. In his views, it is in better interests of Taiwan to
surrender to China. Thus, along with the political point and his particular writing style has helped
him to gain popularity among the Chinese supporters. As a consequence, he has faced hatred
between the supporters of independence of Taiwan.

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The political participation increased by the time. He was selected as a candidate for the
presidential elections in the year 2000. He took these elections as a means to communicate his
views to the public in Taiwan. One interesting event occurred during the elections when Li said
that he has no plans of voting for himself and supported another candidate by the name of Soong.
After the elections, he publically criticized the former president for cases regarding the
corruption. As a result of legislative elections in 2004, Li was elected as a legislator.
In 2005, Li returned to China where he gave various speeches in universities of China
including Peking and Fudan University. He was warmly welcomed by the respective universities
and has high impacts on the persons who attended. One of his speeches aimed at the freedom of
Speech given to the public in China. He is still a candidate of legislature campaigns under the
People First Party.

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