Mise à jour du 25 novembre 2014 : droits achetés par les Éditions Globe

Both a riveting memoir and a revealing portrait of modern China, this passionate book tells the story of a man who has never accepted limits and always believed in the power of the human spirit to overcome any obstacle

THE BAREFOOT LAWYER
by Chen Guangcheng
Henry Holt, March 2015

It was like a scene out of a thriller: One night in April 2012, China’s most famous political activist—a blind, self-taught lawyer—climbed over the wall of his heavily guarded home and escaped. For days, his whereabouts remained unknown; after he turned up at the American embassy in Beijing, a furious round of high-level negotiations finally led to his release and a new life in the United States. Chen Guangcheng is a unique figure on the world stage, but his story is even more remarkable. The son of a poor farmer in rural China, blinded by illness when he was an infant, Chen was fortunate to survive a difficult childhood. But despite his disability, he was determined to educate himself and fight for the rights of his country’s poor, especially a legion of women who had endured forced sterilizations under the hated one-child policy. Repeatedly harassed, beaten, and imprisoned by Chinese authorities, Chen was ultimately placed under house arrest. After a year of fruitless protest and increasing danger, he evaded his captors and fled to freedom.

Chen Guangcheng, known to many of his countrymen as « the barefoot lawyer, » was born in the village of Dongshigu in 1972. Blind since infancy, illiterate until his late teens, he ultimately taught himself law and became a fiery advocate for countless Chinese who had no voice. His escape from his jailers in China made international headlines, and he remains uncompromising in his commitment to human rights.

Rights sold in Germany (Rowohlt Verlag), Italy (Bompiani) and Sweden (Norstedts Forlag)