When History Is Erased, People's Moral Values

In February Of This Year I Returned To China To Research My Next Book. The Authorities Know About The Novels Of Mine That Have Been Published In The West, Including The Latest One, Beijing Coma, About A Student Shot In Tiananmen Square, But So Far Have Allowed Me To Return.

I Left Beijing In 1987, Shortly Before My Books Were Banned There, But Have Returned Continually.

Beijing Coma Took Me 10 Years To Finish.

I Meant That The Chinese People Are Not Aware Of Their Own Entrapment. They Believe They Live In A Free Society, But Don't Realize How Much They Are Being Monitored And Controlled, How Much The Information They Receive Is Restricted And Warped, Until They Step Out Of Line, That Is, And Feel The Heavy Hand Of The State Fall On Them.

Before The Counter-culture Revolutionary Li Lian Was Executed In 1971 For Criticising The Cultural Revolution, Pour Policemen Pushed Her Face Against The Window Of A Truck, Lifted Her Shirt And Cut Out Her Kidneys With A Surgical Knife,’ Mau Sen Said, His Face Stony And White. ‘i Think That Removing The Organs Of Convicts While They Are Still Alive Is Too Much. It Completely Contravenes Medical Ethics.’ ‘this Is A Dissection Class, Not A Political Meeting,’ Sun Chunlin Said.