妻子耿和与民主人士齐聚歌声守望

作者：张致君

2026年8月8日，在中国著名维权律师高智晟被迫失踪九周年之际，高智晟的妻子耿和与多位民主人士及关注中国人权状况的人士来到美国加州自由雕塑公园，在高智晟雕塑《仰望星空——高智晟》前举行纪念活动。

当天，众人聚集在雕塑下，共同唱起为高智晟而作的歌曲《深渊中的守望者》。歌声回荡在南加州广袤的荒漠之中，人们以这样的方式纪念高智晟多年来为弱势群体、人权与法治所作出的努力，同时再次呼吁外界关注他的下落。

人群中，高智晟的妻子耿和站在丈夫的雕塑前，与众人一同歌唱。对于其他参加者而言，这是一场纪念活动；而对于耿和而言，眼前的雕塑所呈现的，是她已经九年无法自由相见的丈夫。雕像近在咫尺，现实中的亲人却远隔重重阻碍，这一幕也让当天的纪念多了一份沉重。

（高智晟律师妻子耿和在活动上发言）

（来自旧金山中国民主党的成员为纪念高智晟律师献唱）

高智晟是中国著名维权律师，长期关注弱势群体、公民权利和宗教信仰自由等问题，并曾代理多起维权案件。由于长期从事维权工作，他此后遭到持续打压，并经历拘押、监控以及自由受到限制等处境。

2017年8月，高智晟从被软禁的陕西住所失踪，此后长期与外界隔绝，其下落持续受到国际人权组织及海外社会关注。

从2017年8月到2026年8月，整整九年。对于高智晟的家人而言，这意味着漫长的分离、等待与未知。这些年来，耿和也一直没有停止为丈夫发声。

当天举行纪念活动的高智晟雕塑名为《仰望星空——高智晟》，由自由雕塑公园创办人、雕塑家陈维明先生创作。2026年4月4日，这座大型雕塑在加州自由雕塑公园正式揭幕。

雕塑采用塔形结构。塔基以石块构成，中层正面浮雕呈现高智晟的著作以及手持利剑与天平的正义女神；两侧浮雕则表现了与高智晟维权经历相关的人物与群体。雕塑顶部，是仰头凝望天空的高智晟头像。

陈维明将作品命名为《仰望星空》，其中寄托着特殊的寓意。当一个人与外界隔绝，人们不知道他身处何方，他也无法知道远方的人正在如何思念和守望他时，天空或许成为彼此仍然共同拥有的事物。

无论身处高墙之内，还是身在自由世界，人们仰望的仍是同一片星空。《仰望星空》不仅塑造了高智晟的个人形象，也寄托着一种跨越高墙与距离的守望。

今年4月雕塑落成时，耿和也曾来到现场。四个月后，在丈夫被迫失踪九周年之际，她再次来到《仰望星空》前。雕塑所表达的“仰望”，与当天《深渊中的守望者》所表达的“守望”，在这一刻形成了特殊的呼应。

8月8日，荒漠、天空和远山构成了纪念活动的背景。没有宏大的舞台，矗立在荒漠中的《仰望星空》就是当天最醒目的纪念碑。

当《深渊中的守望者》的歌声响起，人们面对的不仅是一座雕塑，更是一位已经九年无法自由出现在公众视野中的真实人物。

九年的时间，足以让许多新闻淡出公众视野，也足以让一个名字逐渐被新的事件覆盖。然而，对当天来到自由雕塑公园的人们而言，纪念本身就是一种拒绝遗忘。

只要还有人记得，还有人追问，还有人公开呼唤他的名字，高智晟就不会从公共记忆中消失。

高智晟曾以律师身份为弱势群体和权利受到侵害者提供法律帮助。在面对巨大压力的情况下，他仍然选择公开表达自己的立场，并因此付出了沉重代价。

当这位曾经替别人发声的律师自己失去自由之后，他的家人、朋友以及海外人权和民主人士开始持续为他发声。

从这个意义上说，高智晟的经历早已不只是一个律师个人的命运。他的遭遇，也成为观察中国维权律师和人权捍卫者处境的一个重要案例。

九年过去，一个问题始终没有消失：

高智晟在哪里？

当天的纪念活动结束后，人群终将散去，荒漠也重新归于寂静，但《仰望星空》仍将矗立在那里。

雕塑中的高智晟依旧抬头望向天空。

九年前，他从公众视野中消失；九年后，他的妻子和一群仍然记得他的人来到这里，用歌声继续守望。

九年失踪，不应成为九年遗忘。

而那个持续了九年的问题，依然等待着答案：

高智晟，你在哪里？

（仰望星空 高智晟纪念雕塑 图片来源 自由雕塑公园官网）

附歌词全文：

《深渊中的守望者》

一盏微光，穿透黑暗

冷墙后的呼喊，在回荡

绝望中，他信念如钢

守护正义，是心中辉煌

铁窗锁不住灵魂的飞翔

烈火淬炼初心的刚强

沉默中，他的呐喊滚烫

穿越岁月，写下正义篇章

深渊无尽，他站成山岗

孤寂中燃烧的希望

信念如火，驱散寒霜

为真理他捍卫信仰

即使孤身，亦如明灯

点燃黑夜，点燃黎明晨光

为真理用生命回响

摄影 ：陀先润 编辑 ：胡丽莉

校对 ：程筱筱 翻译 ：戈 冰

Liberty Sculpture Park: Nine Years Since Gao Zhisheng’s Enforced Disappearance — Wife Geng He and Pro-Democracy Activists Gather in Song and Vigil

Author: Zhang Zhijun

Abstract: On August 8, 2026, marking the ninth anniversary of Gao Zhisheng’s disappearance, his wife Geng He joined pro-democracy activists at Liberty Sculpture Park in California to sing together, commemorating Gao Zhisheng and calling for international attention to his whereabouts.

On August 8, 2026, marking the ninth anniversary of the enforced disappearance of the renowned Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, his wife Geng He, alongside numerous pro-democracy activists and individuals concerned with human rights in China, gathered at Liberty Sculpture Park in California, USA, to hold a commemoration event before the statue dedicated to him, Gazing at the Starry Sky — Gao Zhisheng.

That day, the crowd assembled beneath the sculpture and sang in unison Watchman in the Abyss, a song composed for Gao Zhisheng. As the singing echoed across the vast desert of Southern California, attendees paid tribute to Gao’s long-standing efforts on behalf of vulnerable groups, human rights, and the rule of law, while renewing their appeal for global attention regarding his whereabouts.

Amidst the crowd stood Gao Zhisheng’s wife, Geng He, singing together with everyone before her husband’s statue. While this was a commemorative event for other participants, the sculpture represented a husband whom Geng He has been unable to freely see for nine years. With the statue so close yet her actual kin separated by insurmountable obstacles, the scene cast a heavy sorrow over the day’s vigil.

(Geng He, wife of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, speaking at the event)

(Members of the Democratic Party of China from San Francisco singing in commemoration of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng)

Gao Zhisheng is a prominent Chinese human rights lawyer who has long focused on issues surrounding vulnerable groups, civil rights, and freedom of religious belief, having represented numerous rights defense cases. Due to his sustained rights defense work, he subsequently faced persistent suppression, experiencing detention, surveillance, and severe restrictions on his personal freedom.

In August 2017, Gao Zhisheng vanished from his residence in Shaanxi where he was under house arrest. Since then, he has been held in prolonged isolation from the outside world, and his whereabouts continue to draw sustained concern from international human rights organizations and the overseas community.

From August 2017 to August 2026, a full nine years have passed. For Gao Zhisheng’s family, this has meant an agonizing period of separation, waiting, and uncertainty. Throughout these years, Geng He has never ceased advocating for her husband.

The statue of Gao Zhisheng featured in the day’s commemoration is titled Gazing at the Starry Sky — Gao Zhisheng, created by the founder of Liberty Sculpture Park, the sculptor Mr. Chen Weiming. On April 4, 2026, this large-scale sculpture was officially unveiled at Liberty Sculpture Park in California.

The sculpture utilizes a tower structure. The base of the tower is constructed from stone blocks; the front of the middle tier features high-relief carvings depicting Gao Zhisheng’s writings alongside the Goddess of Justice holding a sword and scales, while the reliefs on both sides depict figures and groups associated with Gao Zhisheng’s rights-defense journey. At the top of the sculpture rests the bust of Gao Zhisheng, looking up and gazing at the sky.

Chen Weiming named the work Gazing at the Starry Sky, bestowing it with a special meaning. When a person is cut off from the outside world—when people do not know where he is, and he cannot know how those far away miss him and keep vigil for him—the sky perhaps becomes the one thing they still share together.

Whether confined within high walls or residing in the free world, people still look up at the very same starry sky. Gazing at the Starry Sky not only sculpts Gao Zhisheng’s individual image, but also embodies a spirit of vigil that transcends distance and high walls.

When the sculpture was completed this past April, Geng He was also present at the site. Four months later, on the ninth anniversary of her husband’s enforced disappearance, she once again stood before Gazing at the Starry Sky. The act of “gazing up” expressed by the sculpture and the act of “keeping vigil” expressed by Watchman in the Abyss formed a profound echo at that moment.

On August 8, the desert, sky, and distant mountains formed the backdrop for the commemoration. Lacking a grand stage, Gazing at the Starry Sky standing tall in the desert served as the day’s most prominent monument.

As the song Watchman in the Abyss sounded, what people faced was not merely a sculpture, but a real-life human being who has been unable to freely appear in the public eye for nine years.

Nine years is enough time for many news stories to fade from public attention, and long enough for a name to gradually be overshadowed by new events. However, for those who came to Liberty Sculpture Park that day, commemoration itself is a refusal to forget.

As long as there are still people who remember, people who inquire, and people who publicly call his name, Gao Zhisheng will not disappear from public memory.

Gao Zhisheng once provided legal assistance as a lawyer to vulnerable groups and those whose rights were violated. Facing immense pressure, he nevertheless chose to publicly express his position, paying a heavy price for doing so.

When this lawyer, who once spoke up for others, lost his own freedom, his family, friends, and overseas human rights and pro-democracy activists began to continuously speak up for him.

In this sense, Gao Zhisheng’s experience has long ceased to be merely the personal fate of an individual lawyer. What he has endured has also become an important case study for observing the plight of Chinese rights-defense lawyers and human rights defenders.

Nine years have passed, and one question has never gone away:

Where is Gao Zhisheng?

After the day’s commemoration concludes, the crowd will eventually disperse, and the desert will return to silence once more, yet Gazing at the Starry Sky will remain standing there.

Gao Zhisheng in the sculpture continues to look up toward the sky.

Nine years ago, he vanished from the public eye; nine years later, his wife and a group of people who still remember him came here, continuing their vigil through song.

Nine years of disappearance must not become nine years of oblivion.

And that question, which has persisted for nine years, still awaits an answer:

Gao Zhisheng, where are you?

(Gazing at the Starry Sky — Gao Zhisheng Commemorative Sculpture. Photo source: Liberty Sculpture Park official website)

Appendix: Full Song Lyrics

Watchman in the Abyss

A faint light pierces through the darkness,

The cries behind cold walls echo on.

Amidst despair, his conviction is steel;

Guarding justice is the glory in his heart.

Iron bars cannot shackle the flying soul,

Fierce fires temper the strength of original resolve.

In silence, his outcry burns scalding hot,

Traversing the years to write a chapter of justice.

The abyss is endless, yet he stands as a mountain peak,

A hope burning in solitude.

Conviction like fire, driving away the frost;

For truth, he defends his faith.

Though alone, he stands as a beacon,

Igniting the dark night, igniting the dawn’s first light;

For truth, echoing with his very life.

Photography: Tuo Xianrun Editor: Hu Lili

Proofreader: Cheng Xiaoxiao Translator: Ge Bing