Wei Jingsheng has spent almost all of the last 18 years in prison for writing that China should become a democratic country. His first prison term began in 1979 and lasted until 1993. While in prison he wrote many letters. To his family and also to leaders such as Deng Xiao Ping, Li Peng and Jiang Zemin. He was released a few months early from his 14 year sentence because at that time the People's Republic of China was trying to get the Olympics and tried to cover their nature up with the fig leaf of releasing Wei. This gave Wei some leverage and he asked and received his letters.
Wei's foresight has allowed his letters from prison to be translated and published. The are on sale now in the book The Courage to Stand Alone. Amazon is a great website bookstore. Their page for Wei's book is here .
I saw the book in the store last weekend and bought it. I didn't know it would be coming out and was surprised to see it. There were a bunch of copies at the store then. I went back yesterday (less than a week later) and there were no copies left. So the book is selling.
The New York Times Book review is here. It is worth a read and it has links to other web sites of interest. One link with some of Wei's writings is here.
They will have statues for Wei Jingsheng in China for hundreds of years to come.
