Skip to content
Skip to product information
1 of 1

WULOLIFE

From Submissive Citizens to Citizens: Walking with Democratic Taiwan Author: Yu Jie / Publisher: Avant-garde

Sale Sold out
Regular price €32,00
Regular price Sale price €32,00
Tax included. Shipping calculated at checkout.

Description

Contents

Looking ahead to the democratic landscape of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and four places, and delving into the historical texture of Taiwan. Sincere advice from a Chinese exiled writer to a free Taiwan

Adhering to the pursuit of democracy, freedom and human rights, dissident writer Yu Jie fled to China with his wife and children under the illegal house arrest, torture and death threats of the Chinese Communist regime. Although the Chinese Communist authorities continue to threaten to fabricate the "Jiangnan case" and even arrested Hong Kong publisher Yao Wentian, who had cooperated with them for many years, and sentenced him to ten years in prison as a warning, Yu Jie is still not afraid to criticize the Chinese Communist system, and even attempts to open a new window of thought for the new citizen movement for China and the Chinese world.

In 2014, the KMT forced through the "Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement" and triggered the "March 18 Movement". Hong Kong gradually changed its tune due to the "One Country, Two Systems" policy, and the "Occupy Central" "Umbrella Revolution" was in full swing. The social movement atmosphere of Macau's revival and the rights protection actions of the Chinese people show that the voices of the borders of major countries are interconnected, and the connection and cooperation of citizen movements are gradually becoming possible. Yu Jie visited Taiwan for several months, traveled to various counties and cities in Taiwan, and gave more than 60 speeches and seminars. He found endless vitality in Taiwan's civil society.

In this book, Yu Jie demonstrates his keen observation and sharp writing style. He not only deeply and extensively grasps the pulse of the "new citizen movement" in the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and four places, leaving a profound footnote for the democratic process of Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and China, but also continues to lay the independent foundation of liberalism for his "spiritual homeland" - Taiwan. In addition, Yu Jie takes it as his responsibility as an intellectual who "holds his own political views" to illuminate the absurd time and space dislocation and great unification ideas of many "public intellectuals" in the Chinese intellectual community when facing Taiwan, re-explain the true meaning of liberalism, and trace the key political opportunities in Taiwan's modern history, thereby reflecting and looking forward, bringing sincere advice and forward-looking power to the reform of Taiwan's politics and society.

Celebrity Recommendations

Lin Jushui (political commentator):
Taiwan's democratic politics, dominated by the mainstream ruling and opposition parties, is difficult and frustrating, and even more so when viewed through Yu Jie's perspective. But the irony is that we will also see new possibilities because of our different perspectives.

Zhang Tiezhi (Taiwanese cultural and political commentator):
This book contains important reflections on the obedient subjects and citizens across the Taiwan Straits and Hong Kong: Taiwanese are learning how to be true citizens, Hong Kong people are fighting for their basic civil rights, and Chinese people are fighting for how to talk about "citizenship" openly.

Wei Yang (participant in the March 18th Movement):
As a public intellectual, what historical perspective and scale of concern should we use to understand the many resisters who have stood up and clenched their fists in the face of the increasingly powerful "state/capital" alliance? And what position should we place ourselves in? Yu Jie's writings depict and explore the face of our era and the questions that belong to our era.

【Paper Introduction】
Shen Qingkai (founder of "Philosophical Friday")
Zhu Lixi (Founder of "Knowledge Korea Garden")
Yang Cui (Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, National Dong Hwa University)
 

About the Author

About the Author

Yu Jie


Born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China in 1973, he entered the Chinese Department of Peking University in 1992. His debut novel "Fire and Ice" published in 1998 sold millions of copies, and his writing and thoughts influenced a generation of young students. He has published more than 40 books of various types, such as the novel "Vanilla Hill", the collection of modern intellectual history essays "Wandering Hero Road", the biography "The Biography of Liu Xiaobo", and the political commentary collection "China's Dictator Trilogy". He has been selected for different versions of the "100 Most Influential Chinese Public Intellectuals" list many times, and has won the "Tang Qing Christian Literature Award" and the "Citizen Courage Award".

Yu Jie is a political commentator, essayist, historian, and human rights defender. In October 2010, after Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize, Yu Jie was illegally placed under house arrest by the Chinese Communist Party authorities for several months, and was kidnapped with a black hood and tortured. As a result, he fled China with his wife and children on January 11, 2012, and was granted political asylum by the US government.

After that, Yu Jie founded the Asia-Pacific Institute for Religious Freedom and Democratization in Washington, D.C., and is dedicated to research on issues such as religious freedom and civil society. Since 2008, Yu Jie has visited Taiwan many times, and his footprints have covered almost every county and city in Taiwan. He can be said to be the Chinese independent intellectual who pays the most attention to Taiwan's democratization process, and has accurate observations and profound comments on Taiwanese society.
Your cart