Liu Xiaobo Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Liu Xiaobo Wins Nobel Peace Prize - Liu Xiaobo is hardly a household name inside China. Most people have never heard of the man who is the first person of Chinese origin to win a Nobel Prize while living in China.
Liu is a political philosopher who first angered the Chinese government in 1989, when he was involved in orchestrating peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that ended with a military crackdown.

Decades later, Liu co-wrote Charter 08, a petition calling for multi-party democracy in China. He has spent much of his life in and out of prison, often living under house arrest.

Within the small community of people who are familiar with Liu Xiaobo's work, not everyone is comfortable with the idea that the Nobel was given to a single Chinese activist.

Liu Xiaobo Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Many support Liu Xiaobo's efforts to promote human rights on a philosophical level, but believe others who have sacrificed their freedom — and sometimes their lives — also deserve recognition.

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China keeps a database listing 1,452 current political prisoners in China, although researchers admit that list is far from complete.

Liu Xiaobo Wins Nobel Peace Prize