During his fourth prison term , Liu was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize for " his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China . " Liu was the first Chinese citizen to be awarded a Nobel Prize of any kind while residing in China . He was the third person to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention , after Germany 's Carl von Ossietzky ( 1935 ) and Burma 's Aung San Suu Kyi ( 1991 ) . He was the second person to have been denied the right to have a representative collect the Nobel Prize for him as well as the second to die in custody , with the first being Ossietzky , who died in Westend hospital in Berlin-Charlottenburg after being detained in a Nazi concentration camp . Berit Reiss-Andersen , chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee , blamed the Chinese communist regime for his death and said that " Liu Xiaobo had contributed to the fraternity of peoples through his non-violent resistance against the oppressive actions of the Communist regime in China . " Liu was born on 28 December 1955 in Changchun , Jilin , to a family of intellectuals . Liu 's father , Liu Ling ( 刘伶 ) , was born in 1931 in Huaide County , Jilin Province . A professor of Chinese at Northeast Normal University , he died of liver disease in September 2011 . Liu 's mother , Zhang Suqin ( 张素勤 ) , worked in the Northeast Normal University Nursery School . Liu Xiaobo was the third-born in a family of five boys
2010 Nobel Peace Prize
2010 Nobel Peace Prize
Liu Xiaobo