Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Nobel Prize Awarded In Absentia To Chinese Dissident
By
Zoe Schlanger
Published Dec 10, 2010
Modified Dec 10, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Gothamist
View all 6
By
Zoe Schlanger
Published Dec 10, 2010
Modified Dec 10, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
For the first time since 1936, the recipient of the Nobel Peace prize was awarded in absentia. Today in Oslo, there was an empty chair on the stage where Liu Xiaobo, 54, would have been, were he not currently serving an 11-year term on subversion charges from the Chinese government. His wife, Liu Xia, is under house arrest. Human Rights in China, the organization responsible for publishing Liu's writings in English, is based in NYC, and today the Times reported on HRC's director Sharon K. Hom's struggle to make it to the airport in time to fly to Oslo. A traffic jam in the Lincoln Tunnel seemed the perfect metaphor for her work as an activist, and, in a lede fraught with hyperbolic pseudo-poignancy, Times columnist Clyde Haberman determined the experience was "almost enough to make anyone think of herself as the victim of human-rights deprivation." Good thing they didn't take the Holland—that's worse than the Holocaust!
That aside, today's Nobel ceremony honoring Liu, who has called for changes to the one-party Communist system, led to China spearheading a 17-country boycott of the Nobel Prize, a list which includes Russia and Iran. Text messages bearing Liu's name can't be transmitted within China, and the Chinese government has called the Nobel committee clowns. The whole sticky, volatile mess is “absolutely politically tone-deaf,” Hom said. Rallies held in support of Liu's release were also held across the world; actor and activist Richard Gere spoke at one near the United Nations, reading from Liu's final statement, "I hope to transcend my personal experiences as I look upon our nation's development and social change. And to counter the regime's hostility with utmost goodwill, and to dispel hatred with love."
There was a dramatic reading of Liu's writing during the Nobel ceremony as well, but Thorbjoern Jagland, the chairman of the prize committee, told the audience no Peace Prize would be handed out, "We regret that the laureate is not present here today. He is in isolation in a prison in northeast China. Nor can the laureate's wife Liu Xia or his closest relatives be here with us. No medal or diploma will therefore be presented here today. This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate."
Tagged
china
empire state building
Liu Xiaobo
Nobel Peace Prize
oslo
Zoe Schlanger
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
The most expensive congressional race in NJ history? This could be the one.
Money is pouring into the closely watched race between Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. and Democratic challenger Rebecca Bennett.
By
Mike Hayes
Published Oct 1, 2026 at 1:50 p.m. ET
Former NYPD sergeant pleads guilt to charge he impersonated ICE official
The ex-cop was suspended after a March incident in which he held himself out as an ICE leader.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
Former NYPD sergeant pleads guilt to charge he impersonated ICE official
The ex-cop was suspended after a March incident in which he held himself out as an ICE leader.
By
Arya Sundaram
Pressure mounts on Mamdani to detail NYC schools plan after Hannah-Jones article
By
Jessica Gould
NYPD arrests 25-year-old who stabbed a man to death on the J train
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Judge orders psych evaluation for man accused of killing woman in Central Park
By
Samantha Max
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .