In China, Mandela Is Claimed by Authorities and Dissidents Alike The death of Nelson Mandela prompted widespread expressions of sympathy in China, an indication of how his many roles - campaigner in the fight against racial inequality, political prisoner, national leader and senior African statesman - appealed to numerous segments of Chinese society. Chinese state media have spoken about Mr. Mandela's role in liberating oppressed people, and drawn comparisons between him and China's revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong. The Chinese government has in official condolences emphasized the former South African president's role in establishing formal relations between his country and the People's Republic of China in 1998. Some former political prisoners in China say Mr. Mandela's experience gave them strength, and Chinese human rights activists admire Mr. Mandela as an icon of struggles against political repression. "His example of a peaceful path is one that China's supporters of a transition have constantly thought about and want to emulate," said Cui Weiping, a writer and retired literature professor in Beijing who has written about human rights and democratic transitions. Gao Xiaoliang, who served two years in prison for his participating in the 1989 pro-democracy movement, then another nine years starting in 1993 for continued activism, said knowledge of Mr. Mandela's experiences helped him survive in detention, particularly during his second prison term. He was in for 27 years. Why should I be afraid of nine years," Mr. Gao said. If I hadn't had Mandela's spiritual encouragement during those nine years, I probably would have killed myself. Mr. Gao said he had little knowledge of the outside world while in prison, but in 1994 he heard a radio announcement that Mr. Mandela had led his African National Congress to electoral victory and had become South Africa's first black president. Tears welled up in his eyes upon hearing the news, Mr. Gao recalled. "His win in a democratic presidential election wasn't just a victory for Mandela, it was a victory for justice," he said. I was very moved, and my heart was consoled. When the imprisoned Chinese activist and writer Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, the Norwegian Nobel committee chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, noted the similarities in the nonviolent ideologies of Mr. Liu and Mr. Mandela, who was awarded the prize three years after his release from prison in 1990. Hu Jia, a human rights activist in Beijing, said that when he was imprisoned for more than three years on political subversion charges in 2008, he took inspiration from Mr. Mandela's example. "He was imprisoned for 27 years, more than the entire lives of young people, but when he left prison he said that if he bore any hatred that would amount to remaining in prison," Mr. Hu said. That had a big influence on me, because while I was in prison I felt incredibly down. Mr. Hu said he recalled reading about Mandela Day, commemorated on Mr. Mandela's birthday, July 18, in the Chinese newspapers he was allowed to read while in prison. "Mandela's spirit tells us that to bring about a truly democratic society, we finally need to demonstrate tolerance and reconciliation," he said. Mr. Hu said that he understood that, as president, Mr. Mandela had to develop relations with the Chinese government. When you become a politician, on the one hand, you have to have morality but you also have to work for your country's development. After the break-up of apartheid, Mr. Mandela also helped to develop South African ties with China, a process that has deepened under his successors. President Xi Jinping of China sent a message of condolences, expressing "deep grief" at Mr. Mandela's death and saying "the Chinese people will always remember his extraordinary contribution to the development of bilateral relations and the cause of human progress," the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported . A spokesman for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hong Lei, praised Mr. Mandela as a "famed leader in South Africa's struggle against apartheid, the founder of the new South Africa and an outstanding politician of world renown," in a statement posted on the ministry's website. "Mr. Mandela was an old friend of the Chinese people, and made an historic contribution to establishing and developing relations between China and South Africa," the statement said. Under Mao Zedong, China supported anti-colonial struggles across Africa, and also opposed apartheid in South Africa, while the United States and other Western countries sought to preserve diplomatic and commercial ties with Pretoria. China and South Africa only established formal diplomatic ties in 1998, well after apartheid was dismantled. Mr. Mandela had spoken of his respect for China's revolutionary leaders and said that he looked to Mao and others for influence. He read "Red Star Over China," a 1937 book by the American journalist Edgar Snow based on early interviews with Mao, and "saw that it was Mao's determination and nontraditional thinking that led him to victory," Mr. Mandela wrote in his 1994 autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom." The official China News Service noted that Mr. Mandela loved to read "The Art of War" by the Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu. "Mandela perfectly embodied Sun Tzu's five virtues of wisdom, integrity, strictness, benevolence and bravery," it said. Still, some commentators suggested the Chinese state's embrace of Mr. Mandela is only possible because he carried out his political struggle somewhere else. "If Mandela were born in China, he would be tortured in jail, forced to make confessions and humiliated on national TV," the author He Baoguo wrote in a post on his Sina Weibo microblog. That would be the end of him. Chris Buckley contributed research.