中文在后
Swedish book reviews and letter from Swedish publishers
Dear Liao Yiwu,
I hope all is well with you, my friend. I would like to tell you that Sweden’s other major evening newspaper, Expressen, has also reviewed Wuhan (see link below). I think this is especially pleasing, as freedom and democracy are under great threat in the world today.
https://www.expressen.se/kultur/bocker/darfor-tog-kineserna-livet-av-sig-under-covid
All the best from Sweden,
Lennart
In the past few days, a repressed and five-year-old covid memory came to light.
REVIEW. Do you remember COVID-19? Almost exactly five years ago, the first person on Swedish soil died from the virus. It would be a while before panic set in, and even longer before we promised each other never again to let the working pillars of society crawl on their knees. And never again would elderly care become a death trap.
Did the virus originate from the animal market in Wuhan, or did it slip out of the laboratory in the same city? Was the infection asymptomatic?
So it is a bit of a gamble by Lindskog’s publishing house to publish Liao Yiwu’s “Wuhan”. The book, subtitled “A Documentary Novel”, was written during the first year of the pandemic. Its attempt to locate the pandemic’s ground zero in scientists’ manipulations of the SARS virus makes it a bit long-winded in places. The time for patience with deep dives into the genetic origins of the virus is over.
But it deserves its readers. Reading “Wuhan” is like being thrown back to the worst days of the pandemic, and at times like stepping into the Chinese nightmare.
The one where hospitals have long been full but no one is allowed to talk about the virus. Where those who lack money have to settle for an orange peel instead of a face mask, and where people would rather kill themselves than go home to their small homes and infect the rest of the family.
Power everywhere. The one that monitors every step a person takes, vacuuming chat groups for the slightest sign of disobedience. The one that nails apartment doors shut and uses friends as bait when it comes for you. “The emperor’s defense is a net without meshes,” as Liao Yiwo notes in an apt metaphor.
In prison, he was tortured, the abuse driving him to several suicide attempts.
Author Liao Yiwu knows more about the Chinese dictatorship than many. In 1990, he was sentenced to four years in prison after recording a poem about the Tiananmen Square massacre on cassette tape. In prison, he was tortured and the abuse drove him to several suicide attempts. In the years that followed, he lived as an outcast, occasionally homeless, but all the while he created a Chinese counter-narrative from the interviews he conducted with people on the fringes of society.
In 2011, he crossed the border into Vietnam and now lives in forced exile in Germany.
The sprawling mix of poem, pamphlet and essay that is ‘Wuhan’ is not only a reminder that the struggle for prisoners of conscience like Gui Minhai – whose example is featured in the book – is important. It is also an effective antidote to any delusion that a dictatorship can be negotiated with on normal terms.
Liao Yiwu reminds us that the trade deal with China triumphantly concluded by Donald Trump in 2019 was in fact a way for the regime to take control of Hong Kong.
The figure of speech he cites to describe the tactic makes “Wuhan” eerily topical:
DOCUMENTARY NOVEL
LIAO YIWU
Wuhan
Translation from English Sissel Almgren
2025 年 3 月 12 日
病毒是源自武漢的動物市場，還是從同一個城市的實驗室溜出來的？感染者沒有症狀嗎？
因此，Lindskog 出版社出版廖亦武的《武漢》，實在有點賭博的意味。這本副標題為 「紀實小說 」的書寫於大流行的第一年。它試圖將大流行的原點定位在科學家對 SARS 病毒的操控上，這使得它在某些地方顯得有點冗長。耐心深入探討病毒基因起源的時代已經過去了。
但這本書值得閱讀。閱讀 「武漢 」一書，猶如回到非典型肺炎最嚴重的日子，有時更像踏入中國的夢魘。
在那裡，醫院早已爆滿，但沒有人被允許談論病毒。缺錢的人只能用橘子皮代替口罩，人們寧願自殺，也不願意回到自己的小家，感染其他家人。
無處不在的電力 監視每個人所走的每一步、吸塵聊天群組中最微小的不服從跡象。當它來找你時，會把公寓大門釘上，並以朋友為誘餌。「皇帝的防線是張沒有網眼的網」，廖亦武用了一個恰當的比喻。
在獄中，他飽受折磨，虐待使他幾度自殺未遂。
作家廖亦武比很多人更瞭解中國的獨裁統治。1990 年，他用錄音帶錄下一首關於天安門大屠殺的詩後，被判入獄四年。在獄中，他飽受折磨，幾次自殺未遂。在之後的幾年裡，他一直過著被遺棄的生活，偶爾會無家可歸，但他一直透過對社會邊緣人群的採訪，創造了一種中國式的反敘事。
2011 年，他越過邊境進入越南，現在被迫流亡到德國。
《武漢》結合了詩歌、小冊子和散文，不僅提醒人們像桂民海這樣的良心犯（書中以他為例）的鬥爭是重要的。它也是對任何認為獨裁者可以用正常條件與之談判的妄想的有效解毒劑。
廖亦武提醒我們，川普（Donald Trump）在2019年與中國勝利達成的貿易協議，其實是該政權控制香港的一種方式。
他引用來形容這種策略的比喻，讓「武漢」顯得格外具有時代感：
不牺牲孩子，就抓不到狼」。
廖亦武
武漢
英譯 Sissel Almgren
Lindskog, 254 頁
