I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3960 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Liu Xiaobo, and collectively to 
all advocates of democracy and human rights in China, in recognition 
of their extraordinary advocacy for liberty and human rights despite 
repression and their impact on world peace and global understanding 
of China, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 4, 2017 
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself and Ms. PELOSI) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services, 
and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and Foreign 
Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To award a Congressional Gold Medal to Liu Xiaobo, and 
collectively to all advocates of democracy and human 
rights in China, in recognition of their extraordinary 
advocacy for liberty and human rights despite repression 
and their impact on world peace and global under-
standing of China, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preserving Liu Xiaobo 
Legacy of Freedom & Gold Medal Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Liu Xiaobo was China’s most prominent ad-
vocate for democracy, human rights and freedom 
and a powerful voice for peaceful political reform. 
(2) Liu Xiaobo, along with other pro-democracy 
advocates, sought to raise the Chinese people’s 
awareness of their dignity and rights by publicly 
calling upon the Chinese Government to govern in 
accordance with its Constitution and the inter-
national human rights agreements it has ratified. 
(3) Liu Xiaobo, by his long and visionary lead-
ership, has become the symbol of two generations of 
Chinese reformers—he unites the generation of stu-
dent who protested at Tiananmen Square in 1989 
and, through his role in Charter 08, a new genera-
tion of rights advocates, human rights lawyers, and 
intellectuals. 
(4) Liu Xiaobo, and so many other advocates 
for freedom, have suffered official retribution and 
imprisonment for daring to speak out against a 
range of human rights abuses across China. In addi-
tion, their family members have faced harassment 
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and detention in response to their advocacy efforts, 
including Liu Xia, who was detained without charges 
in her home since 2010. 
(5) In December 2009, a Beijing court sen-
tenced Liu Xiaobo to an eleven-year sentence in a 
Chinese prison for ‘‘inciting subversion of state 
power’’, in part for his role in Charter 08, a docu-
ment calling for human rights and political reform 
in China. 
(6) In May 2011, the U.N. Working Group on 
Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion declaring that 
the Chinese government’s imprisonment of Liu 
Xiaobo contravened the Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights. 
(7) In 2010, many persons from around the 
world nominated Liu Xiaobo for the Nobel Peace 
Prize, including the 14th Dalai Lama, Bishop 
Desmond Tutu, and Vaclav Havel. In awarding the 
2010 Nobel Peace Prize for his ‘‘long and non-vio-
lent struggle for fundamental human rights in 
China’’, the Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that 
‘‘through the severe punishment meted out to him, 
Liu Xiaobo has become the foremost symbol of the 
wide-ranging struggle for human rights in China’’. 
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He reportedly is the first person since 1935 to win 
the prize while in prison. 
(8) Liu Xiaobo died of late stage liver cancer on 
July 13, 2017. He was the first Nobel Peace Prize 
laureate to die in state custody since Carl Von 
Ossietzky, who died after being detained in a Nazi 
concentration camp. 
(9) Liu Xiaobo, and all those part of the pro- 
democracy movement in China, are the conscience of 
the international community regarding human rights 
in China and serve as a constant reminder that 
human rights, democratic transparency, and liberty 
are critical issues of bilateral relations that, if finally 
realized in China, will make monumental contribu-
tions to world peace and stronger and more pros-
perous United States-China relations. 
(10) Awarding Liu Xiaobo the Congressional 
Gold Medal, and collectively to all those who have 
stood for freedom and democracy in China despite 
repression, would not only recognize his contribu-
tions to peace, but to global understanding of China 
and would further inspire millions of Chinese with 
the ideals of freedom he so heroically articulated. 
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
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(1) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speak-
er of the House of Representatives and the Presi-
dent pro tempore of the Senate shall make appro-
priate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf 
of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate de-
sign to Liu Xiaobo or his personal representatives 
and collectively to all those who have peacefully ad-
vocated for democracy and human rights in China in 
recognition of their achievements and for their con-
tributions to the cause of freedom, human rights, 
and peace in China and globally. 
(2) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes 
of the award referred to in paragraph (1), the Sec-
retary of the Treasury (referred to in this section as 
the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike the gold medal with 
suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be de-
termined by the Secretary. 
(3) SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—Following the award of 
the gold medal under paragraph (1), the gold 
medal shall be given to the Smithsonian Institu-
tion, where it will be available for display as ap-
propriate and available for research. 
(B) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense 
of the Congress that the Smithsonian Institu-
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tion should make the gold medal awarded pur-
suant to this Act available for display else-
where, particularly at appropriate locations— 
(i) associated with the research of the 
Tiananmen Protests of 1989 and their 
subsequent violent suppression; and 
(ii) dedicated to preserving the history 
of the Chinese pro-democracy movement. 
(b) DUPLICATE MEDALS.—The Secretary may strike 
and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medals struck 
pursuant to subsection (a) under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, at a price sufficient to cover the 
cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of ma-
chinery, and overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold 
medal. 
(c) STATUS OF MEDALS.— 
(1) NATIONAL MEDALS.—Medals struck pursu-
ant to this section are national medals for purposes 
of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code. 
(2) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sec-
tion 5134 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 
struck under this section shall be considered to be 
numismatic items. 
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SEC. 4. HOLDING ACCOUNTABLE CHINESE OFFICIALS 
COMPLICIT IN LIU XIAOBO’S IMPRISONMENT. 
It is the sense of Congress that the United States 
Government should— 
(1) seek the release of political prisoners in 
China, including seeking the unconditional release of 
Liu Xia and ensure her freedom of movement; 
(2) condemn all efforts to censor or intimidate 
the families of Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia and censor 
news and information about Liu Xiaobo and his leg-
acy; 
(3) identify those officials or individuals in-
volved in the arrest and arbitrary detention of Liu 
Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia; 
(4) identify those officials or individuals 
complicit in the torture and arbitrary detention of 
human rights lawyers and rights advocates such as 
Xie Yang, Li Heping, Li Chunfu, Gao Zhisheng, 
Chen Guangcheng, Jiang Tianyong, Tang Jingling, 
Wang Quanzhang, and others peacefully advocating 
for human rights and legal and political reforms in 
China and following in the footsteps of Liu Xiaobo; 
and 
(5) use the sanctions available under the Global 
Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Public 
Law 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note) for those offi-
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