The True Tortured Poets: Songwriters, Writers jailed in China & The fight for Free Expression
On the eve of Taylor Swift’s new album, The Tortured Poets Department, Chris Castle offers an important reminder of true tortured poets, songwriters, and other creatives behind bars in China.
Op-ed CHRIS CASTLE of Music Tech Policy
Taylor Swift is making what I guess is her first big move to leave the Universal world by making a direct deal with TIkTok at the same time her label is terminating its “license” due to unacceptable terms. Swift, Inc. will likely not be getting those terms that apply to everyone else. She may well be getting stock in any future TikTok IPO, and that kind of deal is very difficult to compete with. I’ve been through one of those and at some point you just have to let the artist go to another bidder and Universal should let her go. If you don’t like a place, don’t go there. And good for her. I hope.
But as Tim Ingham observed in Music Business Worldwide, Taylor Swift has an impressive history of using her own influence to help artists and songwriters at large. Given TikTok’s shadowy connections to the Chinese Communist Party that are well documented, any deal she makes with TikTok gives her an unprecedented platform to shine light on people like Apple News publisher Jimmy Lai, and of course the real tortured poets: The poets and songwriters currently disappeared into China’s prisons for challenging China’s President for Life Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party that governs the people of China.
These are the real Tortured Poets. And that connection is so obvious, it will be interesting to see if the CCP actually allows that album title to be used inside the Great Firewall of China.
It takes real courage to stand up to go to a Chinese prison over writing a song and become an enemy of the state. Any lover of freedom would hope they have the courage to stand with them.
- Liao Yiwu: Liao Yiwu, a celebrated poet and musician, faced the wrath of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for his unyielding commitment to artistic expression. His prison diary, chronicled in “For A Song and a Hundred Songs,” offers a raw and vivid account of life behind bars. Liao’s poetic sensibility allowed him to capture the minutiae of suffering—the dampness of cell walls, the stench of overcrowded cells, and the haunting cries of fellow inmates.
His poem “Massacre,” inspired by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, resonated across China, even as the CCP tightened its grip. Later, an ill-fated film project based on his poem “Requiem” landed Liao and his artist friends in prison. The psychological torment of incarceration, the violence from guards and fellow inmates, and the suffocating fear became Liao’s reality. - Lin Zhao: Lin Zhao, another poet, etched her words in blood—quite literally. Handcuffed and beaten during Mao’s Cultural Revolution’s “Anti-Rightist Campaign”, she wrote poems and essays on scraps of paper using her own blood as ink. When paper ran out, she inscribed her clothing. Lin’s defiance against the CCP’s tyranny cost her dearly, yet her spirit remained unbroken. Hu Jie’s documentary, “Searching for Lin Zhao’s Soul,” immortalized her struggle. Lin’s poetic resistance transcended physical boundaries, becoming a testament to the indomitable human spirit>
- Zhu Yufu: Zhu Yufu’s seven-year prison sentence imposed by the CCP stemmed from a protest poem titled “It’s Time.” In a digital age, he dared to challenge the CCP’s authority, urging the Chinese people to rise. His words echoed defiance, demanding change. Even A Xia, his pregnant wife, faced imprisonment merely for being married to him.
- Wang Zhang and Wang Liqin: According to PEN America, “Wang Zang was detained by the CCP on May 30, 2020 and formally arrested two months later for “inciting subversion of state power.” The reported evidence against him included his recent poetry, essays, performance artworks, and interviews with foreign media. Wang’s wife Wang Liqin was later detained for advocating online for his release. Wang and his wife stood trial behind closed doors in December 2021. The trial lasted one day and his defense lawyer was not permitted to appear in court, with authorities reportedly revoking his license. Wang Zang was sentenced to four years in prison last month; his wife was sentenced to two years and six months in prison. Their sentencing was reported publicly nearly a year after the trial. Wang Zang is currently in the process of appealing his case.
In January 2021, PEN America and the Raoul Wallenberg Centre filed a complaint on behalf of Wang Zang and Wang Liqin with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The complaint said the couple had been arbitrarily and unjustly detained for exercising their human rights to free expression and association, while highlighting the significant harassment and threats by authorities against Wang’s family after his arrest.”
So the real Tortured Poets Department is called the CCP’s Ministry of State Security. If Taylor Swift is concerned about real tortured poets, she has a rich tapestry to work with at TikTok; the names I listed are just a few. There are many more, so many it’s doubtful anyone knows exactly how many.
Based on my own experiences with the Soviet version of repression, I am skeptical about just how much control the CCP has over TikTok. When you’ve had an East German 50 cal drawn down on your tummy, you tend to skip ahead a bit. But maybe not.
Part of TikTok’s lobbying campaign currently underway is normalizing horrible stuff. Associating themselves with vast numbers of lobbyists who are rich people who go home to nice houses is to make the company seem legitimate. But are they? There’s nothing like an IPO to make people seem acceptable–just ask Daniel Ek.
But–if TikTok really isn’t controlled by the Chinese Communist Party as they would have you believe, the company will give Taylor Swift a platform to speak out about the torture and imprisonment of her fellow songwriters and poets, free speech advocates and human rights activists. Then she’d be a real Goddess of Democracy. If she would care to accept that mission.
