Seeds of Fire
曾伴浮雲歸晚翠，猶陪落日泛秋聲。
世間無限丹青手，一片傷心畫不成。
悲傷 bēishāng, ‘grief’, ‘sorrow’, ‘distress’ — two Chinese characters in the calligraphic hand of Li Xianting 栗憲庭 written for Geng Xiaonan 耿蕭男 to commemorate her release from prison displayed here with Tao Jingzhou 陶景洲 in March 2026 are a silent testimony to the karmic link between Li, Geng, Tao and Xu Zhangrun 許章潤, their long-persecuted friend.
Not long before her arrest in September 2020, while travelling together outside Beijing, Xiaonan encouraged Xianting, whom I first met in 1983, to call me so that I could have a word with Professor Xu. It was the only time that we’ve ever been able to speak.
Xiaonan was released from prison in September 2023. Neither Professor Xu nor I have heard from her since.
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The rubric of this chapter Seeds of Fire is a poem by Gao Chan 高蟾, a writer active in the Tang dynasty:
曾伴浮雲歸晚翠，猶陪落日泛秋聲。
世間無限丹青手，一片傷心畫不成。
— Geremie R. Barmé
Editor, China Heritage
23 March 2026
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Geng Xiaonan in China Heritage:
- Bei Ming, 北明, A Chinese Decembrist and Professor Xu Zhangrun, 10 September 2020
- Ai Xiaoming 艾曉明, Geng Xiaonan’s Dance of Defiance, 16 September 2020
- The Editor & Bei Ming 北明, The Kafkaesque Trials of Geng Xiaonan, 20 September 2020
- Xu Zhangrun 許章潤, Xu Zhangrun: I Am Compelled to Speak Out in Defence of Geng Xiaonan, 24 September 2020
- Li Xueyuan 李雪原, ‘Geng Mulan’ — reading a poem for a hero, 26 September 2020
- ‘The innocent cry to Heaven. The odour of such a state is felt on high.’, 1 October 2020
- Geng Xiaonan, Ren Zhiqiang & China’s Refuseniks, 2 October 2020
- Samuel Wade, Geng Xiaonan & the Siege of Beijing, 12 October 2020
- ‘A Sunflower Glaring at the Sun’ — on Geng Xiaonan being formally arrested, 20 October 2020
- Celebrating Geng Xiaonan, 8 September 2023
中國當代藝術的教父栗憲庭先生在耿瀟男女士出獄之後送給她的書法氣勢恢弘。
— 陶景洲
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Source:
- Tao Jingzhou 陶景洲, Twitter/X, 22 March 2026
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