Chinese writer Bei Ling (??) has pressed assault charges against a man who allegedly attacked him in his apartment building in New Taipei’s Xindian District, police said Friday.
The brawl happened late Tuesday night after Bei and his next-door neighbor and alleged attacker, surnamed Kao (?), had had an argument that evening while Bei was meeting friends at his home, according to the Xindian Police Precinct.
Kao was apparently annoyed by Bei and his guests and went over to Bei’s home to complain, according to the police.
When the two began arguing, Bei called the police but declined to press charges, police said.
After Bei’s guests had left, the two ran into each other on the ground floor of their apartment building and had another argument, when Kao, apparently under the influence of alcohol, struck Bei with a stick, police said, adding that the two exchanged blows. Bei went to the hospital to seek medical attention after the assault.
Bei sustained lacerations around his eyes and mouth, bruises all over his body, a broken rib, and a light concussion, police said, adding that Bei pressed assault charges against Kao the next day.
The police said they would summon Kao to have his statement taken before forwarding the case to the prosecutors’ office.
Bei was a leader of underground literary and cultural movements in China in the 1980s. In 1988, he received a grant to go to the U.S. and was a visiting fellow at Brown University.
After returning to China, he was arrested by the Chinese authorities in 2000 for publishing the Tendency literary journal, which he co-founded in 1993, in China, on a charge of “illegally publishing a foreign literary publication.”
Bei’s arrest triggered an international backlash, and he was released two weeks later and deported to the U.S.
Bei came to Taiwan in 2016 and was granted permanent residency in 2021.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel