He was later named as one of the “four junzis of Tiananmen Square” for persuading students to leave the square and thus saving hundreds of lives.In an article in the New York Review of Books, Simon Leys wrote that Liu Xiaobo’s perception of the West and its relationship to a modernizing China evolved during his travels in the United States and Europe in the 1980s.“During a visit to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, he experienced a sort of epiphany that crystallized the turmoil of his latest self-questioning: he realized the shallowness of his own learning in the light of the fabulous riches of the diverse civilizations of the past, and simultaneously perceived the inadequacy of contemporary Western answers to mankind’s modern predicament. The writer, who has died aged 61 of cancer, was abroad when the movement erupted and he went home despite the risks. The gate remained locked and outside the He insisted that love could dissipate hate, and that progress would be made. While I’m unable to accept your surveillance, arrest, prosecution or sentencing, I respect your professions and personalities, including Zhang Rongge and Pan Xueqing who act for the prosecution at present. On 22 January 2010, European Association for Chinese Studies sent an open letter to Hu Jintao on behalf of over 800 scholars from 36 countries calling for Liu’s release.On 18 January 2010, Liu was nominated for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize by Václav Havel, the 14th Dalai Lama, André Glucksmann, Vartan Gregorian, Mike Moore, Karel Schwarzenberg, Desmond Tutu and Grigory Yavlinsky. I was aware of your respect and sincerity in your interrogation of me on December 3.For hatred is corrosive of a person’s wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation’s spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society’s tolerance and humanity, and block a nation’s progress to freedom and democracy. He was as merciless in dissecting friends and apparent allies as political opponents. He replied:“[It would take] 300 years of colonialism. He argued that charges against him of ‘spreading rumours, slandering and in other ways inciting the subversion of the government and overturning the socialist system’ were contrived, as he did not fabricate or create false information, nor did he besmirch the good name and character of others by merely expressing a point of view, a value judgment.Liu’s detention was condemned worldwide by organisations and other countries. On 23 June 2009, the Beijing procuratorate approved Liu’s arrest on charges of “suspicion of inciting subversion of state power,” a crime under Article 105 of China’s Criminal Law.