Jailed Chinese College Satirist searching for truth and the boy who might have turned her in

A Trip Through China's Twilight Zone

One Woman's Quest for Truth In the Authoritarian Maze

By Philip P. Pan, Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 18, 2004; Page A01

BEIJING -
Liu Di, known as the Stainless Steel Rat in cyberspace, still does not know the true identity of the man who presented himself as a fan and friend but who she now suspects was a police spy.

It had been two years since police arrested Liu Di, 24, on charges of subversion, and a year since international appeals and an outpouring of support from China's Internet users prompted the government to release her. At the time, Liu was a college senior, and her many fans believed she had been jailed for writing essays that poked fun at the ruling Communist Party and posting them on the Web.

But Liu wasn't so sure. Two questions gnawed at her: Could one of her friends have been an informer for the government? Had he set her up?