Against the wishes of those in Beijing who warn against awarding Chinese dissidents the Nobel Peace Prize, Hu Jia has found himself on this year's shortlist. According to Forbes' Tina Wang:
Hu Jia has advocated, through political articles published online, in support of awareness of rural AIDS sufferers, democratic rights, religious freedom and Tibetan self-determination. He directs a U.S.-based organization that commemorates the "June Fourth Movement," the protests in Tiananmen Square that resulted in the government crackdown of 1989. He also directs a health institute in Beijing and founded Loving Source, an AIDS nongovernmental organization.
The only other China-related honoree thus far is the Dalai Lama, who received the prize in 1989. The Nobel Committee's choice of a Chinese activist would amount to a strong nod to critics of Beijing's policies