Li Ao
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- Alternative meaning: Li Ao (772-841)
Image:LiAoAtFayuansi.JPG Li Ao (李敖 pinyin Lǐ Áo) (born April 25, 1935), is a writer, social commentator, historian, and politician in the Republic of China on Taiwan.
He is considered by many, especially in mainland China, to be one of the most important modern Chinese scholars today, although some critics have termed him an intellectual narcissist. His political inclinations are more controversial; he firmly believes in Chinese nationalism and in Taiwan, given much media exposure thanks to his popularity as a writer. This has led others to consider him as a political opportunist who enjoys stirring up controversy for the sake of publicity. However, there is no doubt that he is one of the most high profile Taiwanese writers today.
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Background
With an ancestry in Wei County (濰縣), Shandong, or Fuyu County (扶餘縣), Jilin, Li was born in Harbin, China to Li Dingyi (李鼎彝), a professor of Chinese, and Zhang Kuichen (張桂貞). The entire Li family, except for two children, moved to Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Life as a dissident writer
Li Ao was credited for his contributions to the democratic movement in Taiwan between the 1960s and 1980s. In the 1960s, he was the editor-in-chief of Wenxing (文星), a magazine that promoted democracy and personal freedom. He was jailed by the Kuomintang government for more than five years (from 1972 and 1976, and again from 1981 to 1982) after helping a pro-Taiwan independence political prisoner, Peng Ming-min, escape to Japan in 1963. Ironically, Li Ao had a long history of being an advocate of reunification.
Throughout the 1970s, Li Ao received much international attention for his imprisonment. He was highlighted by Amnesty International as one of the three most important political prisoners in Taiwan in 1974.
After his release, Li Ao continued to publish magazines and newspapers, criticizing the government. Ninety-six of his books were banned in Taiwan before 1991. In the 1980s he also sponsored other numerous anti-Kuomintang magazines.
His novel Mountaintop Love (《上山．上山．愛》), about a mother and daughter who fall in love with the same man, though several years apart, solidified Li's status as a serious novelist. His other novel, Martyrs' Shrine: The Story of the Reform Movement of 1898 in China (北京法源寺), is about the beginning and the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform. Li also published his autobiography in 2001, revealing more than ten of his romantic affairs in the book. The bulk of his work, however, is non-fiction, consisting mainly of essays and historical commentaries.
Life as a politician
Li Ao strongly supports the idea of "One country, two systems" proposed by Deng Xiaoping. He believes that the unification of China is inevitable and at one point advocated immediate surrender. He thinks that if reunification were to come as soon as possible, it would be more beneficial for Taiwan. This, in combination with his past as a political dissident and his witty style, has made him a popular figure among supporters of Chinese reunification. Conversely, it has also made him an unpopular figure amongst supporters of Taiwan independence.
Li participated in the presidential election in 2000 as a candidate for the New Party. Li usually plays the role of a political gadfly, and his campaign was largely symbolic. He took the election as an opportunity to "educate" the people of Taiwan. Both he and his party publicly encouraged people to vote for James Soong to the point of stating during the presidential debates that he was not planning to vote for himself and that people should vote for Soong.
Since the 2000 presidential election, Li Ao has bitterly spoken out against pro-independence Nobel laureate Yuan T. Lee, who publicly supported Chen Shui-bian. He has also criticized Lee Teng-hui for corruption. In October 2004 Li ran in the December 11 legislative election as a non-partisan candidate in the South Taipei constituency, for which he was subsequently elected in the last winning place. He took office as an independent legislator on February 1, 2005.
In February 2005, Li held a press conference, accusing PFP leader, James Soong of having changed his opposition towards military weapons purchase from the United States under the influence of people of Pro-American inclination, people with CIA backgrounds and arms traders who would receive kick-backs. Li threatened Soong that he will reveal the names of the people with CIA backgrounds, who were influencing Soong, to the general public unless Soong reverted to his previous opposition position.[1] PFP legislators dismissed the accusation and responded that Li Ao should reveal his evidence to support his story.[2]
Later that year, in June, Li revealed to the Taiwanese press that he had exclusive information from the CIA concerning the 3-19 shooting incident. He alleged that the real motive of the killer was to assassinate Vice-President Annette Lu in order to garner sympathy votes for Chen Shuibian, and that the killer had been condoned by the governing party for ulterior political reasons. After flashing a series of supposedly CIA-endorsed documents to reporters, he mailed them to Annette Lu, claiming that she would need to know the full extent of truth about the assassination attempt.
Trivia
Li is interestingly known for generally appearing in public wearing a Fred Rogers-like cardigan sweater. He also has a habit of taking pictures of the audience at public events where the media is present since he believes that it is only fair to take pictures of the people who are taking pictures of him.
2005 news
On September 19, 2005, Li Ao returned to China for the first time in 56 years. He was invited to give speeches at Beijing University, Qinghua University and Fudan University where he was warmly received, and this trip is claimed to have had significant impact on observers of the China-Taiwan strait relations issue.
2006 news
Li has recently gained an overly-conservative image and reputation as a harsh critic on modern Chinese popular culture. After Taiwanese-director Ang Lee received an Oscar for the controversial film Brokeback Mountain, Li criticized the whole event as “ridiculous and sick” on national chinese television. On May 6th, Li was invited to a talk show with reporter Patty Hou and blatantly ridiculed her relationship with Chinese pop star, Jay Chou. He referred to the pop star as “ugly” and possessing “two small eyes” and said "I have been put in jail, and then I wrote a book, and finally I could be famous like I am today, how come Jay can just write some songs, shakes a bit and become so famous?"
In a TV show he explained why he said Singaporeans are "stupid". He said that is because although Singapore is a successful country, there isn't many outstanding individuals that he knows of. He said although Singaporeans don't break rules, they also don't stand out. Thus giving him an impression that Singaporean are "stupid". The full transcript in chinese is here[3].