The widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo moved to Berlin in July after years of house arrest in China. In a picture tweeted by exiled Chinese writer Liao Yiwu, she can be seen enjoying a glass of German beer.
Image: picture alliance/Tienchi Martin-Liao via AP Photo
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Liu Xia's mental and physical health have significantly improved over the past month, Hong Kong newspaper the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday.
Liu Xia, the widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, moved to Berlin in July after almost eight years of house arrest in China.
"The strength of her medicines has been reduced. She can now handle walking up to 3 kilometers a day — this was virtually impossible last month," the newspaper quoted her younger brother, Liu Hui, as saying.
Liu Hui, who is not allowed to leave China, told the newspaper that his sister was still undergoing detailed physical examinations.
"She likes the weather, but she is still taking to adjust to the German diet," he was quoted as saying. "But overall, her life has stabilized."
The newspaper said Liu Xia was deliberately keeping a low profile in Berlin out of concern for her brother in China, who is out on parole after being sentenced to an 11-year jail term for fraud in 2013.
"I do plan on visiting her, but I will still have to fight for it in the time to come," Liu Hui told the South China Morning Post.
'Ich bin ein Berliner'
Liu Xia is slowly settling in to her new home in the German capital in the company of friends and allies who campaigned for her release.
Her daily routine includes reading books, meeting friends and exercising, the newspaper said.
Exiled Chinese writer Liao Yiwu, one of Liu Xia's close fiends, tweeted a photograph of her enjoying a glass of German beer. The picture was captioned "Ich bin ein Berliner," German for "I am a Berliner," echoing the famous words of former US President John F. Kennedy spoken in 1963 during his visit to then-West Germany.
Liu Xia, a poet and artist, was put under house arrest in 2010, days after her imprisoned husband, Liu Xiaobo, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
He had been sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power.
Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has died from liver cancer after spending eight years in prison for "undermining state power." The Nobel Peace Prize winner fought a long battle for more democracy in China.
Image: Reuters/W. Burgess
A lifetime of fighting
Liu Xiaobo spent decades demanding more democracy in China. He was born in the city of Changchun in the northeast of the country in 1955, and eventually moved to study in Beijing, where he started lecturing in 1984.
Image: Reporter ohne Grenzen
A veteran of Tiananmen
By 1989, Xiaobo was a visiting scholar at several Western universities. However, he returned to Beijing to support the Tiananmen protests and was jailed after the bloody crackdown. He served two more prison terms in the following decade.
Image: Reuters/W. Burgess
Charter 08
In 2008, Xiaobo co-authored a document known as "Charter 08" which called for a free, democratic and constitutional state in China. He was arrested in 2009 for undermining state power.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Yellow ribbons
His trial on subversion charges took place at the the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court. Liu's supporters showed their solidarity by tying yellow ribbons to barriers outside the court.
Image: AP
Protests in Hong Kong
Liu's arrest and the subsequent 11-year sentence sparked protests in Hong Kong and mainland China. Chinese authorities banned diplomats from the US and other western countries from attending the trial.
Image: AP
Nobel Prize for a prisoner
Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. His chair remained empty during the ceremony in Oslo, as he was already in jail.
Image: AP
Family under attack
The dissident's wife Liu Xia supported her husband and continued to call for his release after his arrest. However, her brother Liu Hui was also arrested and sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2013, which Liu Xia decried as a warning to the whole family.
Image: picture-alliance/AP
Through the eyes of Liu Xia
Liu Xia is a photographer who has seen her work exhibited in countries around the world, including Germany. In this undated photo, her husband is shown with a puppet on his shoulder - a common motive in her work.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/L. Xia
Dying from cancer
Liu was diagnosed with liver cancer earlier this year, prompting authorities to move him to a hospital in June. Western leaders urged China to allow the dissident to be treated outside the country, but Beijing refused. Liu passed away on July 13, after his family refused to have him connected to a ventilation machine.
