Exiled

»My home is no longer China. My home is the Chinese language.«

Celebrated in the West; branded an outcast in his own country. In this autobiographical book, Bei Ling – editor, author and friend to the activists Liu Xiaobo and Ai Weiwei – offers a glimpse of the mechanisms of Chinese State power, in particular State censorship. His work as a poet and editor ensure that he is under near-constant scrutiny from the ruling Communist Party. In 2000 he was arrested by the Chinese authorities for publishing the dissident literary journal Tendency. Authors Susan Sontag and Günter Grass lobbied successfully for his release.

In Exiled, Bei Ling offers a glimpse of the Chinese literary underground, tells the story of his imprisonment and of what it is like not to be able to set foot in his home country.

»All those who have been detained will haunt me in my dreams« Bei Ling, FAZ

»Bei Ling stands for freedom of speech and expression in China.« Susan Sontag, The New York Times