Liao Yiwu

Liao Yiwu (Chinese: 廖亦武; pinyin: Liào Yìwǔ; also known as Lao Wei (Chinese: 老威); born 16 June 1958) is a Chinese author, reporter, musician, and poet. He is a critic of China's Communist Party, for which he was imprisoned in 1990. His books, several of which are collections of interviews with ordinary people from the lower rungs of Chinese society, were published in Taiwan and Hong Kong but are banned in mainland China; some have been translated into Spanish, English, French, German, Polish and Czech. He has been living in Germany since April 2011.