Described as one of China’s most distinctive literary voices, Liao became renowned for his poem "Massacre", based on the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings, which he recorded on tape, "howling and chanting to evoke the spirits of the dead". He was jailed for four years for his ‘protest’.
Liao had already boarded his aeroplane in Chengdu on Monday Mar 1, when he was ordered to get off, a media report said.
He is now under house arrest following four hours of questioning by security officials about why he wanted to speak in Cologne.
The PEN American Centre, a group promoting freedom of speech worldwide, has expressed its outrage at the Chinese decision.
‘It is hard to figure what the Chinese government hopes to accomplish by preventing one of its most compelling literary voices from meeting with international colleagues and readers’, said Larry Siems, Director of PEN’s international programmes, and called upon President Hu Jintao to ‘free’ Liao Yiwu.
‘We call on President Hu Jintao to end all restrictions on Liao Yiwu and all other writers and permit them to exercise their right to freedom of expression, movement, and association as guaranteed by international law’.
Guido Westerwelle, the Germany’s foreign minister, has expressed ‘regrets’ at China’s decision and hoped that Chinese poet would be able to visit Germany soon. He promised to argue for freedom in an open dialogue with China.
The New York-based Human Rights in China also protested against Liao’s latest detention.
