Ai grew up in the significantly northwest of China, where by he lived less than severe conditions because of to his father's exile. The signatories involve Ivan Klíma, Jiří Gruša, Jáchym Topol, Elfriede Jelinek, Adam Michnik, Adam Zagajewski, Helmuth Frauendorfer Bei Ling (Chinese:贝岭), a Chinese poet in exile drafted and also signed the open up letter.