While the growth of the internet in China did not bring with it sweeping political reforms as some in the West might have hoped, for Liu it was transformative.

Chinese internet user growth, January 2013

Given a window to reach 500 million readers, Liu could live off his writing for the first time, and Liu found the internet offered a powerful new organizing tool.

Chinese American writer and China watcher Kaiser Kuo discusses the first online encounters between China and the West: