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For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison, by Liao Yiwu
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WINNER OF THE 2012 GERMAN BOOK TRADE PEACE PRIZE
In June 1989, news of the Tiananmen Square protests and its bloody resolution reverberated throughout the world. A young poet named Liao Yiwu, who had until then led an apolitical bohemian existence, found his voice in that moment. Like the solitary man who stood firmly in front of a line of tanks, Liao proclaimed his outrage—and his words would be his weapon.
For a Song and a Hundred Songs captures the four brutal years Liao spent in jail for writing the incendiary poem “Massacre.” Through the power and beauty of his prose, he reveals the bleak reality of crowded Chinese prisons—the harassment from guards and fellow prisoners, the torture, the conflicts among human beings in close confinement, and the boredom of everyday life. But even in his darkest hours, Liao manages to unearth the fundamental humanity in his cell mates: he writes of how they listen with rapt attention to each other’s stories of criminal endeavors gone wrong and of how one night, ravenous with hunger, they dream up an “imaginary feast,” with each inmate trying to one-up the next by describing a more elaborate dish.
In this important book, Liao presents a stark and devastating portrait of a nation in flux, exposing a side of China that outsiders rarely get to see. In the wake of 2011’s Arab Spring, the world has witnessed for a second time China’s crackdown on those citizens who would speak their mind, like artist Ai Weiwei and legal activist Chen Guangcheng. Liao stands squarely among them and gives voice to not only his own story, but to the stories of those individuals who can no longer speak for themselves. For a Song and a Hundred Songs bears witness to history and will forever change the way you view the rising superpower of China.
- Sales Rank: #94019 in eBooks
- Published on: 2013-06-04
- Released on: 2013-06-04
- Format: Kindle eBook
From Booklist
Chinese poet and musician Liao Yiwu recounts the unflinching tale of his impassioned dissidence, subsequent imprisonment, and eventual escape from his home country’s notoriously tight borders. He begins with the death of his sister in 1988, one year before the infamous events of Tiananmen Square that sparked Liao’s protest poem, “Massacre,” which cost him four years in prison. He endured squalor, suffered the abuse of drunken officers, and survived multiple suicide attempts, all the while scribbling notes and fragments that would accumulate to form this memoir, published overseas to international acclaim. Because memoir deals in remembrance, certain passages may sound sensationalized or embellished. But that does not detract from Liao’s clever characterization, fast-paced prose, or enticing storytelling. Now living as an expat in Berlin, Liao continues to denounce China’s ruling class and its so-called state writers, people employed to produce propaganda, among whom Liao includes Nobel laureate Mo Yan. An incendiary exposé and fitting follow-up to God Is Red (2011), Liao’s account of Christianity in China. --Diego Báez
Review
"Liao began his memoir in 1990 on the backs of envelopes and scraps of paper his family smuggled into prison. He managed to sneak out his manuscript when he was released. But twice it was confiscated, and he had to reconstruct it from memory both times." —The New York Times
"A dizzying, and often gruesomely graphic, testimony of vicious brutality and indignities large and small. The title of Mr. Liao’s latest book is from the time a prison guard who heard him sing required him, as a punishment, to sing 100 songs. When Mr. Liao’s voice gave out after 20 or so songs he was severely beaten and had an electric baton shoved up his body."—The Wall Street Journal
"Poet Liao Yiwu's account of four years spent in a Chinese prison is raw and disturbing yet also a deeply human and essential read…A stirring memoir that highlights the lives of those from the bottom rungs of society." —Christian Science Monitor
"It shocks our senses, disturbs our minds, entertains us with dark humor and inspires us with examples of indomitable human dignity and decency. The book follows the best tradition of prison memoirs and presents a powerful indictment of a brutal dictatorship...[For a Song and a Hundred Songs is] destined to be a classic on its literary merits alone." —The San Francisco Chronicle
"Mr. Liao is a poet…with a poet's observant eye and soaring imagination. For a Song and a Hundred Songs is a compelling and harrowing read, full of details about the laogai system and stuffed with portraits of those subjected to it, from politically naive and idealistic students and Christians to murderers, rapists, thieves and embezzlers." —The New York Times, Arts section
"Outraged by violent suppression of the democracy movement, a poet incarcerated for his art offers a harrowing look inside China. Liao’s powerful memoir makes clear that while China is eager to thrust upon its head the heavy crown of a world superpower, its flesh is riddled through with corruption and cannot bear the weight." —Washington Independent Review of Books
"This is not a book about dissidents but rather a powerful, beautifully written memoir describing the lives and personalities of those living near the bottom of an unforgiving society. One of the strongest China books of the past few years." —South China Morning Post
"Liao does not consider himself a political writer. Instead, he believes he is merely a chronicler of truth, of people’s stories." —Epoch Times
"The sheer drama of Liao Yiwu’s odyssey—from poet to prisoner Number 099 to one of China’s most acclaimed writers-in-exile—is matched only by the journey that brought this book to publication. The memoir of his four years in prison is riveting, painful testimony—a vital new chapter in the story of China’s rise." —Evan Osnos, staff writer at The New Yorker
"Liao’s work is an amazing testament to the people who are battling the Chinese police state." —Kirkus Reviews
"Reminiscent of Jung Chang’s Wild Swans in its outspokenness, this book offers a frightening reminder of China’s human rights abuses. Liao has succeeded in writing a sensitive and lyrical account focusing on both the cruelty and the heartwarming experiences of his prison years." —Library Journal
"This vivid and lyrical memoir, a future classic, should have wide appeal as a consummate insider account of Chinese state terror." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"At once brutal and brutally funny. Liao's meticulous portrait of the societal microcosm between cell walls—replete with its cast of foreign ministers, chairmen, scholars, and counter-revolutionaries—reads like a hybrid of Swift and Orwell." —Slate
"Chinese poet and musician Liao Yiwu recounts the unflinching tale of his impassioned dissidence. An incendiary exposé and fitting follow-up to God Is Red." —Booklist
"Wenguang Huang's translation of For a Song and a Hundred Songs brings a new voice and story to a larger tradition. The prose moves between straightforward, no-nonsense accounting of fact and event, which makes for a quick, page-turning reading, and a neat, keen attention to all details." —Three Percent, University of Rochester
"One of the most important documents of political imprisonment and torture about China ever written." —The Daily Beast
"For a Song and a Hundred Songs documents how a poet’s soul descends into the body of a dissident…The book abounds with tender moments of unfailing empathy. China could take a lesson from Liao Yiwu, if it at all understands or cares about the meaning of dignity." —Beijing Cream
"Courageous and powerful. Unforgettable." —Jung Chang, author of Wild Swans and co-author of Mao: the Unknown Story
"For a Song and a Hundred Songs opens our eyes….[it is] a book of tremendous literary force. The author’s linguistic prowess renders it disturbingly cold and invitingly warm, angry and charismatic at once." —Herta Muller, recipient of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature and author of The Hunger Angel
About the Author
Liao Yiwu is a writer, musician, and poet from Sichuan, China. He is a critic of the Chinese regime, for which he has been imprisoned, and the majority of his writings are banned in China. Liao is the author of The Corpse Walker and God Is Red. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the prestigious 2012 Peace Prize awarded by the German Book Trade and the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis in 2011 for the publication of his memoir in Germany.
Wenguang Huang is a writer, journalist, and translator whose articles and translations have appeared in The Wall Street Journal Asia, Chicago Tribune, The Paris Review, Asia Literary Review, and The Christian Science Monitor. He also translated Liao’s The Corpse Walker. In 2007, Huang received a PEN Translation Fund grant. Born in China, he currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Couldn't put it down!!!
By William C. Robinson
this is a great story about a very closed society and the harsh abuse done to the citizens....these insights are truly remarkable and Liao story a must read for anyone interested in world affairs....dealing with the Chinese government requires us to know the human rights violations which are beyond any standard of decency. I recently read of lawyers being sentenced to jail while fighting for freedom...this book shows how similiar all societies are to those incarcerated justifiably and as political prisoners...I am glad he got out of China and I recommend everyone read this book...quite an eye opener...totalitarianism and authoritarian regimes are just as bad as DASH theocracies...great story and clearly a great man to live through this sad experience...
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful.
A Fascinating and Disturbing Look at life in China for a Dissident
By Geoffrey B
I came to this with some expectations that missed the mark. First of all, I expected more poetry. Second of all, I expected a more heroic author. However, in this case life has forced bravery and passion out of a man who, when younger, was sort of a drifting poet. Indeed, he missed the demonstrations in Beijing because he'd gone back to his home province after failing to win enough acclaim at a poetry contest. And even as the riots started, those around him were more interested in what was going on than he was. But finally, the news got to him and the poem, Massacre, came tumbling out in response.
After copies of the poem, Massacre, began circulating the poet found himself pulled into the life of a Chinese dissident without his really intending it. Soon, he was part of a movie project to commemorate those who died at Tienanmen Square but also all victims of oppression throughout history. And then, one day, as he left the place where they were editing the film, the police greeted him and a new life began, as a political prisoner.
The horrors of the Chinese prison, notably the "menu" of tortures, are awful. But the falling in and out of favor with prison officials, and the struggles with other prisoners, are pretty familiar stuff. The rivalry between cell blocks 2 and 3 and the author's sneaking away to hang out with pals from cell block 3 is at times faintly reminiscent of Hogan's Heroes - the life of the prisoner running his own prison experience.
What shocks me, reading this memoir, is the energy the Chinese state manages to find for dealing with these dissidents. The prison tortures, for example, were horrible, but not nearly so chilling as contemplating the idea that when this one man and a few friends got identified, the government was suddenly able to lay hands on everyone they had talked with and round up their group, interrogate friends and family and, in effect, make being a dissident a risk not just to oneself, but to the entire social microcosm one inhabits. One wonders where China could be if they could take the energy used to keep a lid on things and direct it toward something more productive.
Our poet/author is no heroic figure. He did all he could to stay away from politics till the government's outrages became too much to bear. Which makes all the more dramatic the steps the Chinese government took to deal with him. In the U.S., a guy like this would be shouting on a street corner somewhere. Which makes you wonder why he's such a threat in China. This book is a must read, not for its shocking details, but for the realization that the buzzing, humming China we keep hearing about has something like this going on in the background. It exposes the underbelly of a system that tries to have economic freedom without political freedom and therefore trying to harness the energy of the people for an economy and society that views the individuals who form it not as an asset but as a threat.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
It tolls for us...
By NyiNya
Hard to believe its been almost a quarter of a century since the world watched events unfold in Tiananmen Square. 100,000 students gathered to honor the memory of Hu Yaobang, a political reformer, critic of China's autocratic government and its entrenched corruption who believed in democratic process. To us in the West, it seemed naïve and innocent: A bunch of kids pushing the envelope, doing what kids should do, which is protest the status quo, annoy the grownups and shake things up. After all, the climate in China had changed. Deng Xiaoping was running the show, and Deng...as we all knew, was a sensible man, forward thinking, even. But when 100,000 students turned into one million demonstrators demanding reform, it smacked of revolution. Deng gave the order and on June 4, The Protest became The Massacre.
Liao Yiwu was never a hero. He worked hard at being a badass, drinking and getting into fights. His interest in politics was nil but he needed a job and he could write, so he signed on with the some minor public relations division of the Chinese government, churning out laudatory stories, articles and poetry about China, its government and leaders. Still, he couldn't keep his mouth shut, and despite being a paid propogandist, occasionally penned a poem or two criticizing his employers. Deng was not Mao, right. The government welcomed free thinking, right? After Tianamen, Liao realized it was New Boss Same as The Old Boss and he went with his conscience, not his employers, writing an incendiary poem dedicated to those who were killed on June 4. He called it "Massacre." And his bosses did not approve.
To show him the error of his ways, to reform his thinking, and perhaps even restore this poor strayed lamb to the herd, they arrested him and sentenced him to four years in hell.
All prisons are bad (except, I understand, for those in Sweden and Denmark where reason and reform, not righteous retribution, are the basis of the penal code), but there are certain spots in the world where you know they are going to be really, really bad. Really. China is definitely one of them. Words like "brutality" are barely adequate to describe the experience. Going from one prison to another, subjected to starvation, physical and psychological torture, Liao tried to kill himself on several occasions, suffered any number of mental breakdowns, and survived only by eventually attaining an incredible self-discipline. Cold, sick, hungry and battered, he shared cramped cells with ordinary crooks, white collar criminals, street thugs, political prisoners, men who were insane or mentally challenged, gangsters and the merely unlucky. His fellow prisoners preyed on one another, occasionally helped one another and sometimes formed bonds, complex relationships, and even became friends. It's through their stories, through hearing about their lives and circumstances, that Liao is able to reclaim his sanity, reconnect with the world and find ways to survive from one day to the next.
When he finished his sentence, Liao learned that his wife and daughter decided life would be better without him and refuse any contact. His friends aren't returning his calls either. He is completely alone in the world and blackballed by the government...which meant no job, no way to get one, and no place to live. Nobody will hire a man with political prisoner stink all over him, nor will they rent him a room. He was a cipher, a nonbeing, with no hope. Liao slept on the streets of Chengdu and earned pennies by begging and playing the flute for passersby...a skill he picked up from one of his fellow prisoners. As a non-person in his own country, he asked his government for an exit visa sixteen times. He got sixteen turndowns. And by the way, he did not learn his lesson and was still writing critical poetry. When it looked like he was going to become a guest of the government again, he opted out via the back door, slipping across the Vietnamese border and eventually ending up in Berlin.
This is an exceptionally moving book, similar to and almost on a par with Nien Cheng's "Life and Death in Shanghai" about her experiences as a political prisoner two decades earier. I think it's important for Americans to read both. Like the song says, You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. When we welcome the so-called protection promised by a government that wants us to trade our liberty for more security, we've already got one foot on the banana peel. And it's not like it can't happen here. Pointing a finger at China is easy...but let's not forget Kent State. The only difference is in the body count...it could easily have been a Tianaman Massacre, given more protestors and more armed kids dressed up in National Guard uniforms. Reading this book gives us some important food for thought. So does Liao's poem. I've included some excerpts in the comments section if you'd like to take a look.
Thanks for your patience.
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