When the 9/11 attacks took place 10 years ago, Foundation for China in the 21st Century (the predecessor of Initiatives for China) was hosting the second InterEthnic/InterFaith Leadership Conference, an interactive Conference which was originated by Dr.YANG Jianli, President of the Foundation, with the help of colleagues and friends from different ethnic groups, the National Endowment for Democracy, Harvard University and etc. The Conference’s purpose was to bring together a variety of people from the many diverse regions of China currently under the rulership of the Communist Chinese government regime. The 3-day Conference sought to establish and promote a mutual dialogue among participants based on universal values such as equality, non-violence, dignity, and justice, in furtherance of a common democratic future for all. When Conference participants heard of the news of the attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and of the downed plane in Pennsylvania, they put aside their planned schedule and instead went into downtown Boston. They rolled out a long roll of fabric on the sidewalk, 100 meters long, and invited passers-by to write or draw on the fabric to express their feelings about the tragedy that had just occurred and of the international community of victims who were lost as a result.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
One year later, in September 2002, Dr.Yang was sitting in prison in China, arrested while helping the labour movement inside China with their non-violent struggles. He was held incommunicado in solitary confinement for 15 months before his trial, and then sentenced to 5 years after a short perfunctory hearing.
Prison can be an ugly, brutally depressing place. To maintain his sanity, he took to writing his own verses of poetry and memorizing them. “A Lamentation” published here is the one he wrote in prison to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
A LAMENTATION
(In Commemoration of September 11, 2001)
by Yang Jianli
Two huge new waves of glory crashed down,
Cast so cruelly into history, the towering twins.
Five-thousand ships, with sails full-blown,
Now scattered and thrown.
To the Four Winds.
Civilization wept and groaned.
Greatness fell down on her knees to pray.
The red setting Sun, all arrayed in light,
On the back of a Swan,
Turns into Dark Night.
A crystal tear falls, seed upon a pillow.
The Moon grows, rising up from the sea,
Cradles her face within both her hands
Looking down at the world,
From her abode of peace.
An Old Man smiles, face riddled with ripples,
Undulating, propagating, ripples on ripples . . . . . .
Another year’s tears, dreams and emotions
Sink into the deep,
The deep, vast ocean.
Above the foam,
A white feather flies low
Drifts to and fro,
Then floats . . .
A sail,
. . . without
. . . . . . a boat.
English translation by Dolores Ziankov
from the original Chinese poem, composed by
Dr. Yang Jianli in Beijing prison on September 11, 2002.