Chinese Dissident Xu Wenli
(Source:
WBUR)
After years
of living in a tiny Chinese prison cell, Xu Wenli is finally tasting
freedom.
Mr. Xu first
went to prison in 1981, convicted of printing an unauthorized political
journal. He remained there for 12 years. After his release, he returned
to his pro-democracy activities and was jailed again in 1998 for trying
to establish an opposition party. He was supposed to be locked up for 13
years, but this past Christmas Eve he was released and sent into exile
in the United States.
Mr. Xu says
now that he is in the West, he plans to study, to find ways to bring
democracy to China. Democracy is not just a political system he says,
"It's a way of life, essential as bread, air and water."