[5] They both joined the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai in the 1920s, and both his parents served in the army during the Second Sino-Japanese War, fighting against the Empire of Japan.
[3] In 1967, as a 21-year-old high school graduate, Lü volunteered to go as a sent-down youth to East Ujimqin Banner in Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia, where he remained for eleven years, until the age of 33.
He was arrested for his role in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, but was released in January 1991 without ever having been tried, along with Liu Suli, He Dong and Chen Po, as well as student leaders Xiong Yan and Zhou Suofen.
[13] His identity finally became widely known in November 2007, after he won the first Man Asian Literary Prize; a photograph he had submitted to the jury, along with his real name, were published by newspapers all over the world.
[1] Lü describes himself as a "critical left-wing thinker", and remains a supporter of democracy and individualism; in a 2005 interview with British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, he expressed his belief that China risked becoming "like Nazi Germany" if it did not further democratise.