Prominent Author And Social Critic Li Chengpeng Attacked At Beijing Book Signing

Li Chengpeng, an investigative journalist, writer, and social critic with more than 6.65 million followers on Sina Weibo, is accustomed to publicity and controversy. But physical attacks? Surely someone as brash and influential as he knows that opinions present an occupational hazard, but it’s nonetheless disheartening to see someone — anyone — physically assaulted for his ideas and beliefs.

This appears to have happened to Li on Sunday. Via SCMP’s John Kennedy:

Writer Li Chengpeng returned to his hometown Chengdu Saturday to sign copies of his new book, “The Whole World Knows“, a collection of essays, only to be told beforehand by domestic security police that he would not be allowed to address the crowd, speak with fans, or follow up with a Q&A session. In response, Li appeared wearing a mouth mask and a t-shirt on which he had written, “I love you all.”

Yesterday, Li returned to Beijing for another book signing, this time greeted by a very long line of readers, a punch in the head, and a threat from one radical leftist in the form of a kitchen knife.

The “kitchen knife,” in the video above, appears to be wrapped in a red cloth. “This is yours,” the leftist says, calmly, as he pulls it out of his bag and places it on the table. As he’s being pushed back, at least one person can be heard repeatedly saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay,” trying to defuse the situation before it escalates. Someone else throws a punch, and we hear, “Here’s 50 cents for you!” (a reference to China’s “50-cent army,” slang for people who are paid to post pro-government comments on articles and discussion boards).

We’re unclear as to whether the punch in the head happened before or after this, but NTDTV has a video of that aftermath.

Here are pictures of Li’s book launch in Chengdu:

And in Beijing:

The outspoken Li, you’ll remember, gave a powerful speech at Peking University in November in which he memorably said (as translated by Liz Carter), “China is currently in the process of losing its ability to speak.”

More recently, as it relates to the Southern Weekly incident, he told The Asahi Shimbun, “We don’t need high-rise buildings, the status of the world’s second-largest economy, or an aircraft carrier. What China needs now is a newspaper that tells the truth.”

We’ll be hearing more from him, I’m sure.

Liberal writer Li Chengpeng was punched and threatened with a knife at his Beijing book-signing event yesterday (SCMP)

    2 Responses to “Prominent Author And Social Critic Li Chengpeng Attacked At Beijing Book Signing”

    1. DVD

      别春秋笔法了,把来龙去脉说清楚好不

      1、李大眼在微博说帝都十八大买菜刀都需要身份证。

      2、胡扬林没用身份证买了菜刀还 @李承鹏 说我买到了,你要不要,我送给你,他留了发票

      3、李大眼到帝都签书,胡扬林决定送菜刀上门,微博上互相约炮。胡扬林说我要来送菜刀,李大眼说我等你,五岳散人又出镜,说,我也等你。

      4、胡扬林买了菜刀,用红包(或红纸)包起来 ,排队等到了他的时候,准备送李大眼,被拉开,李大眼飞出一枚硬币说给你五毛!

      5、有其他三五不等公知说:
      1、菜刀飞插中了李大眼的太阳穴。2,菜刀飞过了李大眼的太阳穴,3,包着的菜包擦过了李大眼的太阳穴。4,李大眼被掌煽。

      6,有自干五说,胡扬林送了菜刀之后打人,就被一群人围殴。后来证明,胡扬林送菜刀,另外有一山东大汉打了李承鹏一巴掌。。。。。所有人都被送到派出所了

      Reply

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