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S A M P S O N I A WAYER TAI GAO | YI PING | HUANG XIANG

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OWEN CANTOR, DMD

By Desiree Cooper, COA/P Staff

In November 2004, a friend asked Pittsburgh dentist OwenCantor, “Do you want to see a poet read a house?” He had noidea it would change his life.“There on the Northside, a Chinese poet had painted his

poetry on the outside of a house,” said Cantor. “He was read-ing it so dramatically, it was operatic. I don’t understandChinese, but I comprehended every word.”The event was sponsored by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh

(COA/P), a non-profit organization that provides refuge forwriters who are being persecuted abroad. The poet was HuangXiang, then 62, who had spent more than a decade in prison forpainting his political poetry on a wall in Beijing. Often com-pared to Walt Whitman, Huang became a resident of COA/Pin 2004, where he received free housing, a two-year stipendand plenty of freedom to be himself.

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At the performance, Huang’s wife, writer Zhang Ling, helped interpret asHuang read the white calligraphy he’d painted against the dark clapboards ofthe urban row house. Huang often shouted and gesticulated grandly, his longhair flying, as onlookers huddled in the chilly alley of Sampsonia Way.

VIEW VIDEO OF HUANG XIANG’S HOUSE PERFORMANCE

Afterwards, COA/P director Henry Reese asked for volunteers who couldprovide free health care for the Huang and his wife. Cantor immediatelystepped forward.“There wasn’t any question,” said Cantor, who had been a Pittsburgh

dentist for more than 30 years. “I wanted to be a part it. I want City of Asylumto thrive.” VIEW OWEN CANTOR ON WHY HE VOLUNTEERED

The writing on the wallSoon after the reading, Reese asked if Cantor would treat Huang for hissevere dental problems. “In fact, as soon as he got off the plane in the United States, Huang had

said, ‘I need a dentist,’” said Reese.At first, Cantor assumed that he would be doing routine check-ups and

cleaning. But one appointment with Huang and he knew that he was beingasked for much more. During his years of imprisonment, Huang’s torturershad knocked out his teeth with a rifle butt. “He later told me that his interrogators were very crafty,” said Cantor. “By

knocking his teeth out, he would be reminded of what they did to him every timehe looked in the mirror.” VIEW HUANG XIANG TALK ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE

The dentist threw himself into the difficult treatment, consulting with hisstaff and other area dentists, including Rebecca Pounds and Peter Masterson. It would eventually cost him tens of thousands of dollars.“The only thing that made me think twice about doing the work was the

technical difficulty of the job,” said Cantor. “It wasn’t a natural mutilation thatcomes from drinking too much Mountain Dew or not flossing. It was like build-ing the Golden Gate Bridge in someone’s jaw. I had to invent a new template.”More than that, he wanted the poet to be able to effectively perform his work.“He’s an oral poet,” said Cantor, thinking of the moment he first saw Huang per-form the reading of his house. “I wanted him to be able to speak clearly again.”

VIEW OWEN CANTOR TALK ABOUT FIGHTING OPRESSION WITH DENTISTRY

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Cantor appreciates the power of art. A classical musician, Cantor played theFrench horn through dental school and still teaches adult education musicclasses at Carnegie Mellon. In 1981, he founded a classical music Summerfestthat he produced and presented for 14 years. He continues to be a generoussupporter of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.It’s an artist’s sensibility that Cantor brings to dentistry, taking pride in see-

ing his dental work in the smiles of his clients. It was all the more special as herealized how much trust that Huang had put into a complete stranger. “I had to remember that Huang was not used to the most routine dental

care,” said Cantor. “Even the most minor, non-threatening pieces of equipmentseemed like instruments of torture to him. He was still in post-traumatic shock.”

The language of peaceUnable to communicate with his patient, Cantor relied on the very thing thathad brought them together in the first place—their common humanity.“He had touched me deeply when I heard him perform, despite the fact

that I didn’t know what he was saying,” said Cantor. “I decided that he woulddo the same with me. He’d understand my good intentions from the way Iused my body language and emotions.”As Cantor began treating his patient, Huang was recording his experience in

his diary. He wrote on December 8, 2004, as first published in the PittsburghPost-Gazette:To see a dentist is far from easy. After checking my mouth, Dr. Owen asked

his assistant to take pictures. I couldn’t recognize the tools he was using, butI was told to stick my head in a piece of special equipment, with somethingmoving around my mouth taking photographs.For me, it was like acting, as if my head were part of the metal instrument.

The round thing moved through an entire circle in my mouth, making meworry that it might take off my head!Fortunately, it stopped when it reached almost to my ears. Without click-

ing a button or making a flash, a picture was taken of half of my head. I wasastonished when Dr. Owen showed me the negative. A skeleton! The humanhead is as ugly as that? Disgusting!Until Huang’s journal entries were published, Cantor had no idea how diffi-

cult it had been for the Chinese dissident to trust his American benefactor.

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Huang wrote:I was thinking, what is the relationship between Dr.Owen and me? Why did he do so much for me? I bene-fited from the check-up; he did not. He had to spendtime and energy and even lost money to do it. It is hardfor a Chinese to understand this, let alone do it. Weoften want everybody to know that we did somethingfor others…it is anything but pure kindness thatdrives us to do something for others.

One dentist takes on a repressive regimeWhy did Cantor devote himself to the reconstruction of Huang’s jaw andmouth? “On a soul level, we are brothers,” said Cantor, who still stays in touch

with Huang even after the poet moved to New York City. But the explanation runs deeper. “With Huang, I saw the sense of cynical impunity that torturers have,”

said Cantor, who also has been treating subsequent City of Asylum writersfrom El Salvador and Burma. “Torturers may not kill the person, but theykill parts of the person forever. I was able to reverse the effects of torture,”said Cantor, who smiles when he remembers how Huang jumped with joyas he beheld his restored smile in the mirror. “I’m some guy in Pittsburghwho was able to chip away at the Communist regime.”

VIEW OWEN CANTOR TALK ABOUT HUANG XIANG’S REACTION

Not only did Cantor feel that he had done his part to fight oppression,he had also helped liberate an important, global, literary voice.“I respect Huang as a writer,” Cantor said. “I would have paid them for the

chance to do this work. It’s an honor to get a human being like that up andrunning again.”

BETWEEN FRESH BLOOD

In mid-April 1989, thousands of Chinese citizens poured intoBeijing’s Tiananmen Square, mourning the death of pro-democracy leader Hu Yaobang. Over the next seven weeks,the peaceful, student-led demonstration swelled to morethan 100,000 people—one of the biggest confrontations tothe Chinese Communist regime since 1949.Late on June 4, the army entered the capital fortified with

tanks and fired upon the unarmed protestors. No one knowshow many unarmed protestors were killed and wounded. For many Westerners, the sight of a single man facing a

row of army tanks is a lasting memory of the massacre atTiananmen Square. But how do those Chinese who support-ed the pro-democracy movement twenty years ago feel aboutthe legacy of Tiananmen Square?In the United States, there are three programs that pro-

vide refuge for persecuted writers abroad: City of AsylumLas Vegas, Ithaca City of Asylum and City of Asylum/Pittsburgh. All three have given sanctuary to writers fromChina who were in the country during the massacre atTiananmen Square. Sampsonia Way invited the writers toreflect upon China then and now.

T I A N A N M E N S Q U A R EBETWEEN FRESH BLOOD AND STARLIGHT

ER TAI GAO |When Er Tai Gao published his 1957article, “On Beauty,” he found himselfrailing against the Communist posi-tion on aesthetics and objectivity. Thearticle landed the 32-year-old in acamp in the Gobi desert, where heserved hard labor for three years.

Even during the rise of the CulturalRevolution, he remained committed tohis humanist views. He was fired fromhis position at Lanzhou University andforbidden to write or publish. TheCommunist regime imprisoned himtwice more between 1966 and 1989.Prison, however, did not quench thecreative spirit of the painter, art criticand writer.

Following the Tiananmen Squareprotests, Er Tai Gao was again impris-oned for almost a year. In 1992, heand his wife, painter Maya Gao,escaped to Hong Kong. In 2003, hebecame the first writer in exile at thefirst United States City of Refuge at theUniversity of Nevada-Las Vegas. He iscurrently a fellow at the InternationalInstitute of Modern Letters at theUniversity of Nevada. His memoir, InSearch of My Homeland, is forthcom-ing from HarperCollins.

When asked to provide SampsoniaWay with a reflection about Chinatwenty years after Tiananmen Square,he offered the following reflection.

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By Er Tai Gao, Translated by Michelle Yeh

On April 25, 2009, I received a phone call from SampsoniaWay asking me to comment on the twentieth anniversary ofthe Tiananmen Massacre (or “June Fourth” to the Chinese).

First of all, let me say that massacres are not rare in China.The 1989 incident shocked the world because it unfolded cen-ter-stage in the spotlight of international media. In the darkcorners far from the stage, massacres had never stopped,unknown to the outside world.

For instance, even after the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the crackdown in 1983 killed more than 300,000, most ofwhom were young. My estimate is that over the course of fourdecades (1949-1989), the number of “unnatural” deathsapproximates 80 million. When we contextualize the 1989Tiananmen massacre this way, it doesn’t appear as unique.

Democracy movements in China are not unique, either. Thedemocracy movement that ended with the massacre on June 4,1989, is part of a century-long grass-roots movement in China.This year marks not only the twentieth anniversary of theTiananmen Massacre but also the ninetieth anniversary of theMay Fourth Movement. The May Fourth Movement was char-acterized by the 1919 student demonstrations supporting theideals of democracy, science and cultural enlightenment. Theofficial government version of the May Fourth Movement is anarrowly defined “patriotism,” which serves the government’sneed to cover up the deepening conflict between those inpower and the people, between the ruler and the ruled.

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The fact is that there is continuity between the 1919 student calls for culturalreform and the 1989 student calls for thought liberation. Whether it is the “GongchePetition to the Emperor” in the late Qing Dynasty or the so-called “LittleHungary” incidents of 1957, the April Fifth protest of 1976 or the Democracy Walland underground journals of 1978, they all belong to the same historical trend.

Therefore, on this sad day, what I think about is not only 1989 but the tragicheroism of all democracy movements in modern Chinese history: from Qiu Jin, Tan Sitong, and Li Dazhao, to Lin Zhao, Zhang Zhixin, Yu Luoke, and numerousnameless martyrs of thwarted aspirations; from such pioneers as Liang Qichao, CaiYuanpei, Chen Duxiu, Lu Xun, and Hu Shi, to the clarion—soon silenced—of theDemocracy Wall and underground journals of 1978. Let’s not get hung up on thephilosophical differences among the pioneers, the flaws of individual thinkers, orthe wrong turns that Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu took in their groundbreakingcareers. As vanguards in search of light in the dark, their independent thinking andfearless resistance have planted enduring seeds of fire. As we memorialize theTiananmen Massacre we must never forget them.

Next, I must say that slogans like “reverse the verdict,” “apologize,” “let thetruth be known,” “make amends” are moderate and reasonable, but in essencethey legitimize the totalitarian regime. As a strategy, these requests might beacceptable if they would lead to gradual democratization. But, the information thatwe are receiving on this is that the government has increased its military policepatrols and enhanced the use of the “messenger system.” (Consider this analogue:the Dalai Lama has given up the demand of Tibetan independence, but he contin-ues to be labeled by the Chinese government as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”)

There is nothing wrong in being moderate and reasonable, but it is a mistake toignore the nature of this regime. Since 1949, victims of persecution number tens ofmillions. Who has ever received recompense from the government? In the past, weheard the excuse from the government that it had no money. Now, China is rollingin dough. The Olympics in 2008 and the space launches have impressed the entireworld. But recompense is denied not just to the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre.

In the past two decades, China, like the rest of the world, has experienced mas-sive changes in lifestyle, the environment, earth, and outer space. But some thingsnever change. Fundamentalism is a living dinosaur equipped with modern technol-ogy. Chinese totalitarianism today is no different from the time of Chairman Mao.

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Why is it that after WWII Germany could repent, apologize, and recompense itsvictims but Japan could not? The reason is simple: Hitler was dead, but the Japaneseemperor system was left intact. The transformations of the Soviet Union and EasternEurope also began with regime change. Gradual reform should not be a one-sidedwish. If we cannot practice multi-party democracy and adopt a system of checks andbalances, “moderate and reasonable” will only fail repeatedly and even hamper theoriginal intent.

Finally, I don’t believe that the hard power of the military and economy can nec-essarily overcome the soft power of morality. Compared with the past, the Chinesepeople are much more enlightened. Once they recognize the nature of the regime,they will be open to choices. Instead of fruitless communicating with the govern-ment, people should have dialogues among themselves, advance their rights as citi-zens, promote the “Charter of 2008” (issued by 303 signatories on the sixtiethanniversary of the World Human Rights Day on December 10, 2008), and investigatethe number and identities of the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre. These effortsare difficult to begin, but they bear great responsibilities, have profound significanceand an equally profound historical impact. The influences of many progressive mediaand outstanding thinkers and groups in the private sector cannot be underestimated.For example, the website New Century News and the Hong Kong-based OpenMagazine (Kaifang) have an impact no less than that of any private organization. Iam also deeply moved by the unity and persistence of members of Falungong indefending their freedom of religion.

I believe all of the above are the best way to memorialize the Tiananmen Massacre. Living alone in a foreign land, I pay the highest respect to the signatories of the

“Charter of 2008,” the “Tiananmen Mothers,” the civil rights lawyers, as well as theprogressive media, civilian leaders, courageous writers, and members of Falungong.

LISTEN TO AN INTERVIEW WITH ER TAI GAOon “One on One,” KNPR, Nevada Public Radio

READ AN EXCERPT FROM ER TAI GAO’S FORTHCOMING MEMOIR, In Search of My Homeland, go to Words Without Borders

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I must say that slogans like “reverse the verdict,” “apologize,” “let the truth be known,” “make amends” are moderate and reasonable, but in essence they legitimize the totalitarian regime.—ER TAI GAO

IN MEMORIAM—ON THE TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TIANANMEN MASSACRE

YI PING |Born in Beijing in 1952, Yi Ping cameof age during the Cultural Revolution.He was part of the demonstrations atTiananmen Square and witnessed thegovernment murder of protestors there.Soon after the 1989 demonstrations,he was relieved of his job at a Beijinguniversity and forbidden to teach orpublish. Even his previously publishedworks were banned.

About his experience in TiananmenSquare, Yi Ping once wrote in theNovember 2001 issue of The Bookpress:I came, at that moment, to understandTiananmen Square as an altar for theChinese nation, its towering stone mon-ument a link between heaven and earth,between fresh blood and starlight. Themurdered are our sacrifice for the futureof China.

In 1991, Yi Ping and his wife, trans-lator Lin Zhou, escaped to Poland beforeobtaining asylum from the United Statesgovernment. A playwright, essayist, nov-elist and poet, Yi Ping edits the webmagazine, Human Rights in China. In 2001, he became the first persecutedwriter to be sheltered at the Ithaca City ofAsylum.

When asked to reflect twenty yearsafter the bloody protests at TiananmenSquare, Yi Ping was moved to poetry:

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1. So far awayonly broken pieces of paper flyingSo close by right underneath the feet It’s always the same moment Ever since that night all has lost its meaningthe giant city drifts away like smoke Ever since that moment all have gathered around at a certain placeto gaze up at the deceased waiting for them to speak

2. Silence, more silence All words have turned to nil The blood after deathhas become harder with timeThe living with their guilt have grown old and feebleno longer can they hope for that dayThe continuous tracks of power still occupy the woundsThey leave the hurt to the mothersletting them cry as they please in the putrid ruins

In Memoriam—On the TwentiethAnniversary of the Tiananmen MassacreBy Yi Ping, Translated by Michelle Yeh

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READ AN EXCERPT FROM YI PING’S BOOK, The Speech of Pebbles published by Vista Periodista

READ THE 2003 ITHACA COLLEGE QUARTERLY ARTICLE

Photo of Yi Ping: Kenneth Berkowitz

Letter to the City of Asylum/PittsburghBy Huang Xiang, Translated by Michelle Yeh

Before the Tiananmen Massacre took place on June 4, 1989,I had been engaged in literary activities at five universitiesin Beijing. In 1987, I was charged with “disturbing peace ofsociety” and incarcerated in Wang Wu Labor Camp inGuiyang, Guizhou Province. After the Tiananmen incident,I was placed in solitary confinement and not allowed toreceive any visitors. I only learned about the incident whenI heard demonstrators shouting outside the barbed-wireprison walls.

As a poet and independent thinker, I have insisted on“singing solo” since the 1950s. I have maintained this atti-tude throughout my life and have never wavered from it.Ever since my youth, I have had nothing but disdain for the“great chorus”—the entire people singing praises of politi-cal leaders—nor have I taken part in the “little chorus” ofcliques motivated by utilitarianism and self-interest.However, I have never abandoned social conscience orshunned moral responsibilities, whether directly throughmy action or indirectly through my writing. My spirituallife can be defined as standing alone between Heaven andEarth, in pursuit of a poetic life of authenticity. I have nodesire for power; I seek only freedom, and I defend everycitizen’s legal rights—including the freedom of expression,in speech and writing, and the freedom to publish.

I embrace society and the boundless life of the universe,not to be restricted to any party, organization, or group. Ipursue the meaning and value of every individual existence,the true premise of any collective entity.

China’s progress and interaction with the world shouldnot depend on political movements that have been repeatedin a vicious cycle throughout history. Instead, it should be

HUANG XIANG |Huang Xiang has been called the WaltWhitman of China. Born in China’sHunan Province in 1941, he has beenwriting poems since 1950 and hassuffered several imprisonments andtorture because of his work.

In 1978, Huang Xiang founded anunderground writers’ society and a literarymagazine both named Enlightenment.He posted the magazine articles calling forhuman rights and demanding a reevalu-ation of the Cultural Revolution inTiananmen Square, an action that wouldlead to his arrest and sentencing to threeyears of labor nearly a decade later.

Due to near-constant police harass-ment, Huang Xiang and his wife havelived in exile in the United States since1997. He was a resident at the City ofAsylum/Pittsburgh from 2004–2007,and he and his family now live in NewYork. Here are his reflections upon themassacre at Tiananmen Square:

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based on the humanist spirit to increase communicationsbetween the East and the West, transform the national soul,and elevate the national spirit. China needs to complete thesocial and cultural reform that was spearheaded by the MayFourth Movement in 1919.

In 1978-1979, the Democracy Wall nurtured a DemocracyWall culture: re-assessing the leadership of Mao Zedong,rejecting the Cultural Revolution, raising the issue of humanrights in a global context, openly founding civilian organi-zations and journals for the first time in the totalitarian sys-tem. All of this had universal relevance and social-culturalsignificance. Ten years later, socially concerned college stu-dents protested against corruption, but the governmentsuppressed them in a bloody crackdown. On the twentiethanniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, society and historyare still owed justice. As late as it is, people today are stillowed clarity of historical responsibility.

We don’t want to be clay oxen mired in the mud of his-tory, but neither can we forget the bloodshed. We mustremind ourselves of the lessons of history. What we leave toposterity should be neither fiction passed off as history, normurkiness of right and wrong, but truth that no historyshould turn its back on.

Compared with the Cultural Revolution period, theChinese people now enjoy a lot more freedom to expressthemselves verbally. But there is still control of the free-doms of thought, speech, and publication. Dissent is still nottolerated. This is the general situation. In my personal case,all my writings and art are still banned. For half a centurynow, none of my works can be published in mainland China.As a Chinese citizen, my work of a lifetime has been ren-dered invisible. This situation is hardly changing in a socie-ty that emphasizes “harmony.”

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Recently, I was interviewed by a Japanese TV station.One question posed by the journalist was sharp, realistic,and truthful. He said, “In 2008, before the Olympics inBeijing, China opened its doors to you. Your physical bodywas allowed in, but what about your ‘cultural body’? Pleasegive me an honest answer.”

I answered flatly: “No.”As a young man, my rage led me to express resistance in

both spirit and action. To this day I have not given up thefight for individual freedom and the freedom to write, butmy heart is at peace. What I feel is an unbearable sense ofshame for a nation and an era.

Recently, China launched the “National Plan of Actionfor Human Rights.” It deserves positive recognition. I hopethis is not another case of “talking the talk” without walk-ing the walk” that we have seen in the past. I hope this timeunity of words and actions will win the people’s trust andlet these universal values become a reality in China.

As a poet, my highest ideal is global harmony. So long asthe world is filled with bloody struggles motivated by ambi-tions and desires, it is the poet’s right to face such evils bytaking on the moral responsibility of challenging them.Anyone who compromises on principles is a hypocrite.

READ HUANG XIANG’S POETRY AT Well Founded Fear,POV on PBS

READ ABOUT HUANG XIANG’S EXPERIENCE AT CITY OF ASYLUM/ PITTSBURGH

READ ABOUT OF HUAN XIANG’S NEW BOOK, A Lifetime is a Promise to Keep

THE WISP OF LIGHTA new poem in sixteen lines

There is a kind of space that’s a different vastness

There is a heavenly body that’s a different great arch

Each cell in my body is an unattainable distance

The unreachable constellations find shelter in my flesh in my blood

Death, not to be denied rises as it slowly falls

Life, not to be denied advances as it rushes away from us

Under the luminous sky over thisworld of dust I grow old day after day

In the space beyond space alone, I blossom like a child

2002

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