14 Apr 11 | Asia and Pacific, China
The Chinese authorities detained dissident artist Ai Weiwei more than a week ago. Yesterday, Ai’s wife Lu Qing, also an artist, spoke to Justin Webb on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme about her husband’s arrest, saying that they have no reason to take him and that she has absolutely no idea why he has been detained. She talked about his ominous feelings before he was taken:
“He felt it coming. [But] As a wife I really admire his hard work, his speeches, he’s very transparent and public. He’s an artist.”
When Justin Webb asked about Ai’s ability to cope in prison, Lu said:
I have no idea what they will do to them, I’m very worried and They wouldn’t give us any information.
04 Apr 11 | News and features
Outspoken Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has joined the ranks of other dissidents who have irked the government. He has simply gone missing.
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13 Jan 11 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
The studio of acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei has been demolished, a move the artist believes is due to his political activism. Ai Weiwei was one of the artists who helped in the construction of the “bird’s nest” in Beijing Olympics and has been a vocal critic of the Chinese government’s human rights record.
26 Nov 10 | Asia and Pacific, China
Outspoken dissident artist Ai Weiwei has launched an online campaign asking the Chinese government to publicly release the names of the victims of a fire that destroyed a Shanghai tower block on November 15. His Google Docs “Citizens Investigation,” is inviting people to confirm the deceased’s name, age, gender and location in the building when it caught fire, by 7 December. That page is blocked in China.
At least 58 people perished when the 28-storey tower was engulfed in flames earlier this month. Authorities have identified 57 of the victims, but will not release all their names unless their families agree, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency.
Ai, though, wants the names made public. “I’m doing this because every incident in China, whether it’s an earthquake or a mine collapse or a fire, they never release the names,” he told The Telegraph.
In 2009, Ai led a campaign to name the thousands of students who died when their schools collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
The Shanghai fire, which is being blamed on construction work that was going at the time, is a sensitive issue here. China Digital Times earlier reported that the Shanghai government warned media not to “publicise or hype” the fire, later pulling one magazine, China Management Report, off the racks after it ran an investigative piece.
