Ms. Gu has said she and Mr. Bo met in Dalian in 1984, but Ms. Li said that all three of their families had known one another for years before that. Ms. Gu had tried to get into Peking University and failed, but entered after Mr. Bo and Ms. Li helped her at the request of Ms. Gu’s mother, Ms. Li said. Ms. Gu enrolled in 1978, and she and Mr. Bo became dance partners at school and might have had an affair, Ms. Li said.
Ms. Gu was given a suspended death sentence on Aug. 20 after being convicted of poisoning a British businessman, Neil Heywood. Last month, the Communist Party announced that Mr. Bo was being expelled from the party and would be prosecuted on criminal charges. In an interview, Ms. Li said: “Bo Xilai was a hard-working young man with a lot of ideals and talent. I feel a lot of sympathy for him because of the way his political career ended. He is an old man now. I only hope he can have a quiet old age.”
From the letter:
Little Spear,
First off, I must say something. I write with very large characters not because I am lazy or feel like I need to fill space. It is because I’m used to writing with big characters, and this is more comfortable for me. When you see how much ink I have spent on this letter, you’ll realize how diligent I have been.
I am writing you so much today because this is a very rare opportunity. I need to fully take advantage of it. Right now it is 11:20. Before writing this, I was reading your letter over and over again. I closely examined a picture of me that I’m going to send you. I was ordered to take the picture on my birthday when my head was shaved bare. I look terrible. Feeling inferior is not good though, so regardless of how bad I look, I’ll send it to you. Go ahead and poke fun at me. In the following lines I’m going to discuss my views on a number of questions; we can discuss them together. I’ve written it in the form of an eight-legged essay.

The question of image
From your letter I can tell that you are the kind of person who loves carving and refining images of people in your mind. This is very similar to Nasser. He frequently places a photograph on his desk and then spends half an hour just gazing at it. I’ve heard that by doing this one can obtain a basic impression of a person that is very accurate. I don’t think this is entirely false, and I find it very interesting. Perhaps you’ve been influenced by him, Nasser. Images of people actually objectively exist, and on some levels they reflect the peoples’ innermost worlds, including their thoughts, qualities, and personalities. Though some peoples’ actions do not match their words, I think this can be controlled. These people can hide their feelings. But hypocrites who perform as upright people aren’t very convincing.
In the end, the fakeness will be peeled off. No wonder Dzerzhinsky always loved attentively gazing at “images” with his pair of sharp eyes. In interactions with friends, we all care about examining each others’ images, and we carefully emphasize the images that we present to our friends. The closer one is with someone, the more we care about this. People never want to feel insignificant in the eyes of someone else, unless we despise this person and want them to quickly forget us. Concerning your image in my mind, sometimes I can recall you with perfect contentment. I particularly remember the two things you said to me as we parted. I was extremely moved. I can even clearly remember my exact expression and posture at the time. But at other times, your image is more indistinct – does this mean that my love for you is not true enough? Maybe not, because I always wish that I had a clear image of you. Images and emotions are related, but they are not directly proportional. It’s true that images are important, but they naturally fade. When one is carefree, images become more comfortable and relaxed. Though I may not have a lofty image in your mind, and there are some things about me that may even make you uncomfortable, if my image retains its true character, I will be content. I believe that day by day, in a natural manner, we can deepen our understandings of each other. We can establish a true image, one that is no longer subjective. If I conceive of your mind as a theater, perhaps all of the seats are already sold out. Maybe I’m arriving too late, because your mind is already full of medical terms like “coronary heart disease,” “arteriosclerosis,” “cholesterol,” or “electrocardiogram.” But all I need is patience, and I’m confident we will both find seats. Disappointment does not befall one with aspirations.
We don’t only depend on “images” to arouse passion and excitement in our lives. More importantly, we must have a rational spirit and help each other move forward. After all, “images” are just a means of getting one’s foot in the door
.