God Is Red - Liao Yiwu [96]
Maybe I get too much information in my head. Since my brain has limited gigabytes of memory, I just spit them out without filtering. Sorry, I hope it doesn’t offend old folks like you. I need to delete some unnecessary files in my head, I guess. Luckily, I have Jesus as my guide. I’m all focused. I think if I keep upgrading my mind, I will do just fine.
Liao: Do you use a proxy server to get onto overseas websites?
Ho: Of course.
Liao: Are you aware of Liu Xiaobo and a document that he and others have drafted? It’s called “Charter 08.” It’s like a declaration to promote democracy and human rights, including the right to religious freedom. Many well-known Chinese intellectuals have signed their names to the document.
Ho: You don’t need a proxy to access and read “Charter 08.” I saw it posted on several domestic websites. The police keep removing it, but more postings pop up. For a while, they couldn’t seem to keep up the pace.
Liao: Are you in favor of the views outlined in “Charter 08”?
Ho: For the long term, I’m in favor of it, but I don’t support it in the short term. It won’t go very far because it doesn’t have grassroots support. But I have to say that it was such damn hooligan behavior to arrest Liu Xiaobo before Christmas and then sentence him to eleven years in jail. Sorry, as a Christian, I shouldn’t swear, but I think God will forgive me this time. You know, Liu Xiaobo didn’t swear. He expressed his view in a civilized manner. Even if the government doesn’t agree with him, they shouldn’t lock him up. What are they going to do next? For my generation, Han Han is considered an outspoken writer. He is my hero and a hero for thousands of young people today. He’s written some very sharp political commentaries. Are they going to jail him too? After Liu Xiaobo serves out his sentence, he’ll be sixty. Even if democracy does arrive in China by then, he’ll be too old to do anything. He could join the church, get baptized and ordained, and then become a church minister. In this way, he could preach to others. Otherwise, I don’t see any other way out for him, do you?
Look, he belongs to a higher level, the level of professors. I would be in the category of junior student. If you use the computer as a metaphor, he’s like a Pentium 6 or Pentium 7 while I’m only a Pentium 2. He is way ahead of me and I’m never going to be his match, but if you listen, he and others like him make sense.
Acknowledgments
In 2005, Wu Yongsheng, an elder at Fuyintang, the oldest Protestant church in Dali, compiled a book, The History of Christianity in Dali, which listed the names of missionaries who had reached the region from around the world, from the mid-1800s to 1949, in order to preach the Gospel. Since many were known only by their Chinese names, it is not surprising that their English names are misspelled, incomplete, or missing. This book is dedicated to the memories of those who lived and preached in Yunnan.
Archibald Colquhoun, 1882
Frederick Arthur Steven, 1882
Owen Stevenson, 1882
George Andrew, 1882
John Smith, 1885
F. Theodore Foucar, 1886
Harriett Smith, 1890
John Anderson, 1892
E. M. D. Anderson, 1892
Marie Box, 1895
A. M. Simpson, 1895
Sybil M.E. Reid, 1896
John Kuhn, 1900
L. Graham, 1900
S. M. E. Nicholls, 1900
Arthur G. Nicholls, 1900
William Wallace Simpson, 1900
A. H. Sanders, 1901
No recorded English name, 1901
Richard Williams, 1902
Hector Mclean, 1902
William James Embery, 1902
Hector Mclean, 1903
Dr. W. T. Clark, 1903
Ethel A. Potter, 1907
George E. Metcalf, 1907
E. E. Naylor, 1907
Ms. Hector, 1907
Kratzer, 1911
Mr. and Mrs. Edgar, 1912
A. J. Clement, 1912
J. D. Cunningham, 1912
Miss Dukesher, 1902
Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Hanna, 1912
J. O. Fraser, 1919
Allyn Cooke, 1919
No recorded English name, 1919
Mr. and Mrs. F. S. Hatton, 1926
D. S. Hatton, 1926
John Kuhn, 1930
Dr. Stuart Harverson, 1933
Mr. and Mrs. William A. Allen, 1931
Australian, no recorded English name, 1934
Norwegian, no recorded English name, 1934
Ted Holmes, 1934
Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Snow, 1940
Mr. and