Ai grew up in the considerably northwest of China, where he lived below severe problems due to his father's exile. The signatories include things like 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 letter.