Xiao Shu (December 27, 1962-), a native of Yilong County, Sichuan Province, is a writer and political commentator. Xiao Shu graduated from the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University in 1984. After graduation, he taught CCP history at Wuhan Medical College, where he was suspended from teaching for seven years for refusing to write propaganda articles after the violent suppression of anti-government protesters in June, 1989. He resumed teaching in 1996, where he taught courses that had a reputation for being open. He published books challenging official historical narratives including The Herald of History: The Solemn Promise of Half a Century Ago, which compiled a variety of pro-democracy statements released by the CCP media, and The Truth about Liu Wencai, which offered a more positive view of Liu Wencai, who was portrayed as an exploiting landlord by the CCP. As a result, he was forced to resign from the college in 2001. In 2002, Xiao Shu became the executive editor of the government-run China Reform magazine in Beijing. In 2005, he left the position under pressure from the authorities and went to Guangzhou to work as a senior commentator for Southern Weekly.
Xiao Shu supports freedom of expression, political reform, and the development of civil society, and has published many social and political critiques during his time at Southern Weekly, as well as writing commentaries for overseas media outlets such as BBC Chinese, the Financial Times, and the New York Times. He was expelled from Southern Weekly in 2011 and his Sina Weibo account was deactivated by the government in 2012. In 2013, Xiao Shu was taken away by the police for his repeated participation in and support of civic activism, and was released two days later.
