China has said the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is a "political farce".China's foreign ministry said the move by the prize committee in Oslo "does not represent the wish of the majority of the people in the world".
There were standing ovations at the ceremony in Norway for Mr Liu, who was represented only by an empty chair.
The committee's chairman called for the immediate release of the dissident.
Thorbjorn Jagland praised China for lifting millions of people out of poverty, calling it an "extraordinary achievement".
But he warned China that its new status as a leading world power meant Beijing "must regard criticism as positive".
In response, the foreign ministry in Beijing said in a statement: "We resolutely oppose any country or any person using the Nobel Peace Prize to interfere with China's internal affairs or infringe upon China's legal sovereignty."
China says that Mr Liu is a criminal, and insists that giving him a prize is an insult to China's judicial system.
Beijing has also waged a campaign in recent weeks to discredit the Nobel prize.
'China's Mandela'
During the award ceremony in Oslo, Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read out a statement that Mr Liu had made in court during his trial in December 2009.
"I, filled with optimism, look forward to the advent of a future, free China," said the statement.
"For there is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will in the end become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme."
Honouring the new laureate, Mr Jagland placed the Nobel diploma on the empty chair marking Mr Liu's absence.
He compared China's anger at the award to the outcry over peace prizes awarded to other dissidents of their times, including South African archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
He said Mr Liu was dedicating his prize to "the lost souls from 4 June", those who died in the pro-democracy protests on that date in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
"We can say (Mr) Liu reminds us of Nelson Mandela," he said. The former South African president received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
The UN says it had information that China detained at least 20 activists ahead of the ceremony.
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