Words can be fatal in China. Zhang Zhixin, a young Chinese woman, was executed in 1975 for “opposing the Great Helmsman Chairman Mao, opposing Mao Zedong thought, opposing the revolutionary proletarian line and piling offense upon offense.” To ensure that Zhang could not cry out at her execution, her vocal cords were cut.

Jonathan Mirsky in a short essay on Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo in A Hero of our Time in The New York Review of Books P.7, November 11, 2010