"It was not clear if Liu himself had been told about the Nobel."
This has to be one of the first, if not the first case of someone winning a Nobel Peace Prize and not being immediately allowed to know they'd won. The article mentions that he is the first to win it while still imprisoned, as opposed to simply under house arrest. Imagine winning one of humanity's highest honors, but the very censorious state you fought against keeps you from knowing even that simple fact!