Li Ao - Dissident Writer

Dissident Writer

Li was credited for his contributions to the democratic movement in Taiwan between the 1960s and 1980s. In the 1960s, he was the editor-in-chief of Wenxing (文星), a magazine that promoted democracy and personal freedom. He was jailed by the Kuomintang government for more than five years (from 1972 to 1976, and again from 1981 to 1982) for helping a pro-Taiwan independence political prisoner, Peng Ming-min, escape to Japan in 1963. Ironically, Li had a long history of being an advocate of reunification.

Throughout the 1970s, Li received much international attention for his imprisonment. He was highlighted by Amnesty International as one of the three most important political prisoners in Taiwan in 1974.

After his release, Li continued to publish articles in magazines and newspapers, criticizing the Kuomintang government. Ninety-six of his books were banned in Taiwan until 1991. In the 1980s he also sponsored numerous anti-Kuomintang magazines.

His novel Mountaintop Love (《上山．上山．愛》), about a mother and a daughter who fall in love with the same man, though several years apart, established Li's status as a prominent novelist. His novel Martyrs' Shrine: The Story of the Reform Movement of 1898 in China (北京法源寺), is about the beginning and the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform. Li also published his autobiography in 2001, revealing more than ten of his romantic affairs. The bulk of his work, however, is non-fiction and consists mainly of essays and historical commentaries.