Hello everyone! I was born in 2001. My name on my passport is Zhaoyang Liu, but I prefer to be called Pie, yes, the pie from apple pie, and the pie from circumference. I’m actually from China and I came to Italy alone in November 2021. I first attended a language school in Venice for ten months, where I obtained a B1 certificate in Italian, and then enrolled in the psychology department at the University of Padua, where Italian is taught. However, I am preparing to change my major to English-taught Political Science at the University of Bologna or the University of Milan.
I suffer from Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and am now on daily medication due to a history of severe and prolonged domestic violence, as well as being harassed by the Chinese police because I was a human rights defender in China, which is why I want to study psychology.I still have suicidal thoughts, but I believe I can survive.Not least because I have friends who can support me and I can also participate freely in politics in Europe without fear of persecution by the Chinese government.Because I was born in a totalitarian state, I also understand better the value of liberal democracy.
And politics has always been a passion of mine. I remember in 2008, when Barack Obama had just become president of the United States, I asked my dad who the next president of China would be and my dad said Xi Jinping. Yes, in an authoritarian country, ordinary people know who the next leader will be, whereas a democratic country is full of unknowns. I happened to look up the 1989 June 4th incident on Wikipedia back in 2015, and it was the first time I heard that the original Chinese government used tanks against unarmed students. Since then I have been on a firm anti-communist path.
Now I am a European federalist, which is why I joined volt. I believe that Europe must be united to fight against the axis of evil that is China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. I am also an Atlanticist and support NATO and I am excited by the idea of a united European army.
I am gender queer and pansexual, so I am also particularly concerned about LGBT rights. I am also particularly concerned about civil rights, such as abortion, euthanasia, marijuana, psychedelic, etc.
My wish is to be able to become a citizen of the European Union sooner rather than later. Unfortunately foreigners have to stay in Italy for ten years to obtain citizenship, whereas the Netherlands only needs five years. So I am also considering whether to study in the Netherlands. Of course, if I could marry an EU citizen, this would be the fastest way to become a citizen, but this does not seem to be entirely within my control. That’s why I’m also particularly concerned about the issue of migrants’ rights and hope that other European countries will learn from the Netherlands, which is at the forefront of Europe and the world, whether it’s the number of years for naturalisation, same-sex marriage, euthanasia, sex workers’ rights or the legalisation of cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.
I have two kittens. I also enjoy listening to British and American rock and post-punk, psychedelic rock. For example The Beatles, The Doors, Radiohead, Joy Division,Pink Floyd…There is no song I love more than ‘No Surprises’ and I would like to share the lyrics that I will never forget from my days in China: ‘Bring down the government, they don’t speak for us’.
That is why I also particularly appreciate the spirit of civil disobedience. In fact, the names on my passport are my own, and they come from three Chinese men: Liu Xiaobo, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights defender in China; Lin Zhao, a political dissident persecuted to death by the Chinese Communist Party and Mao Zedong; and Zhao Ziyang, China’s Dubcek, the Communist Party’s General Secretary who refused to order the army to shoot to suppress the pro-democracy movement.
I would like to thank very much the +Europa and the Democratic Party in Italy. Emma Bonino, the founder of +Europa, is my political idol, she is older than my grandfather and yet she still persists in speaking out for civil rights. And thanks to the Democratic Party’s primaries, which allow foreigners to vote, I finally got to vote for the first time in my life. Although I am 22 years old, there are no elections in China, so I have never voted before. So I am now particularly keen to obtain and defend the right to vote as well.
I would also like to thank the Italian national health system, which now gives me free access to the medicines I need. Thank you to the EU for restraining the current right-wing government in Italy so that Meloni does not dare to act rashly.I am also grateful to volt for allowing me to join as a non-EU citizen.
I wish I could have worked earlier and paid taxes for the EU to repay the EU for its staunch defence of human rights and liberal democracy. I am also a subscriber to the Ecosia search engine and the Dutch bunq bank. I don’t have the money to plant trees, but these climate-friendly companies are helping me to do so.
I am not yet a vegetarian, but I also refuse to drink animal-based drinks in favour of plant-based milk.
My position on economic policy is more like a liberal, like Macron and the ALDE party, but I take a very radical position on civil rights, I am in favour of legalising sex work, decriminalising personal use of cannabis and psychedelic, and legalising active euthanasia. Of course, women should have the right to freely choose abortion and the government should hand out free tampons and contraceptives. Not to mention same-sex marriage and the right to adopt!
I also really like anti-utopian works, like Orwell’s 1984, which is one of my favourite pieces of literature ever! I believe China, North Korea and Russia are the scenes of 1984. I also play anti-utopian games and am a Steam user.
My favourite author is Albert Camus and I have even joined the Camus Society in the UK. Camus was a former French communist, but was ostracised by the French intellectual community in the 1950s when he was the first to break with the Soviet Union and fiercely attacked its totalitarianism. Camus also disapproved of the violence in the Algerian independence movement. Camus was even more opposed to the death penalty!
I joined Independent Chinese PEN, an organisation affiliated with PEN International. I also donated to Reporters Without Borders. I have a journalist friend who is now in prison in China, her name is Huang Xueqin. I have published some of my work in Chinese and I am now trying to write in English and Italian. This lengthy introduction is the result of me writing it in Chinese and then translating it using DeepL.
I’m still a fan of Apple. Because I appreciate Apple’s values on protecting user privacy and the environment.
I’m also a Couchsurfing user, having travelled to eight countries in 2022, and I’ll be attending some Erasmus+ events this year.
If you want to know more about me, feel free to take a look at my personal page where you can find my Instagram, Blog, Coucusurfing.
By the way, my username is siamoqueer, which in Italian means we are all queer. Nice to meet you all, thanks for reading and you’re very welcome to ask me questions, I’m happy to answer them about China! In particular, China’s relationship with Taiwan, the geopolitics of East Asia and the history of China.
Best wishes to you all!!
Rainbow Pie🏳️🌈🇪🇺
14/03/2023, Ferrara, Italy, European Union
Rainbow Pie 
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