AP: Contender for Nobel prize is in Chinese prison

read all- When the police came for Liu Xiaobo on a December night nearly two years ago, they didn’t tell the dissident author why he was being taken away again. The line in the detention order for his “suspected crime” was left blank.

But Liu and the dozen officers who crowded into his dark Beijing apartment knew the reason. He was hours from releasing Charter 08, the China democracy movement’s most comprehensive call yet for peaceful reform. The document would be viewed by the ruling Communist Party as a direct challenge to its 60-year monopoly on political power.

Liu was sentenced last Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. The 54-year old literary critic is now a favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize — in what would be a major embarrassment to the Chinese government.

AP:Police detain China writer over upcoming book

BEIJING — A best-selling author who is a fierce critic of the Communist Party said he was taken into custody by police Monday and threatened with a stiff prison term if he goes ahead with plans to publish a book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao.

Yu Jie said he was questioned at a police station near his Beijing home for four hours by agents that included plainclothes officers from state security forces.

“The state security people said Wen Jiabao isn’t a normal citizen, he’s the premier, so criticizing him hurts the nation’s interests and security,” Yu told The Associated Press. “(They said) I could be given a heavy sentence like Liu Xiaobo.”

Liu, also an author-dissident, is currently serving an 11-year sentence for inciting to subvert state power.

here is another book about Zhao Ziyang which is a censored issue in China:

Deposed Chinese leader’s memoir released ahead of Tiananmen anniversary

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2009/05/14/memoir-china-tiananmen-square.html#ixzz0svM4KlNf

AFP: China critics, Net founders among record 237 Nobel contenders

Portesting the arrest of Lui Xiaobo in Hong Kong

The names of nominees are kept secret by the institute for 50 years. But those who are entitled to nominate are allowed to reveal the name of the person or organisation they have proposed, if they wish to do so.

A number of Chinese dissidents are thus known to figure on this year’s list, including Liu Xiaobo, who was recently sentenced to 11 years in prison for co-authoring a manifesto calling for political reform in China.

Other dissidents on the list, including Hu Jia, Gao Shisheng, Chen Guangcheng, Bao Tong and Rebiya Kadeer, the exiled leader of the Chinese Uighur minority.

A win by any critic of the Chinese regime would certainly provoke rapid condemnation from Beijing, which reacts vehemently each time a Chinese dissident is mentioned as a candidate and which in the past has warned the Norwegian Nobel Committee not to interfere in China’s internal affairs.

AFP: China sentences political activist Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for ‘inciting subversion’