China

Ai Weiwei Held in Sichuan

By Austin Ramzy | @austinramzy | August 12, 2009 | +

Artist Ai Weiwei, who has led a campaign to document student deaths from last year’s Sichuan earthquake, was detained with several other activists last night in Chengdu. The group was there to attend the trial of Tan Zuoren, another activist who has investigated the quake’s aftermath and is charged with subversion. According to the Associated Press:

Ai said the court had refused to allow him to testify at Tan’s trial so he decided to try to go to the court to show support for Tan, but four police officers carrying guns and batons barged into his hotel room at 3 a.m. Wednesday to take him away.

One of them struck him on his right cheek when he questioned them, he said, while another supporter was also roughed up.

“They said, ‘If we need, we can beat you to death’,” Ai said in a phone interview from the hotel that police took him and the other supporters to, not far from the court. About 20 officers guarded them, but did not give a reason for their detention, Ai said.

Chinese blogger Wen Yunchao has posted a photo apparently snapped by Ai in an elevator as he was taken away by officers this morning. It’s impressively composed, given the circumstances.

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  • johnsmith9876

    Doesn’t he realize that documenting the fate of dead students is leaking state secret ?

  • johnsmith9876

    Another example of Chinese culture at its best:
    http://tinyurl.com/objkjw

    These are the fine Chinese leaders of tomorrow.

  • johnsmith9876

    A great example for all third world countries to learn to rule by law, and not have a rule of law:
    http://tinyurl.com/n9lrkp

  • johnsmith9876

    Great job !! Since everyone can have news paper published in China, everyone should have all the news they want.
    http://tinyurl.com/pwhnq2

  • johnsmith9876

    Why I think Chinese is a peaceful people:
    http://tinyurl.com/pabwzt

  • asiasi8

    I would prefer you post some porn site link. At least they have facts and real actions.

    Man, 10:05pm to 10:28pm should be the time you pleasure yourself, rather than hate this and that.

    You need a life.

  • drmanus

    The western people love to bash others that are more concerned with corporate and species survival as opposed to disillusion of personal freedom and autonomy.

    Dr. Manus Dakadil

    http://dakadil.blogspot.com/

  • chinatsunami

    How kids died inside substandard school buildings during earthquake is the best guarded state secret. No one is supposed to investigate why and how, let alone leaking it to the outside world.

    Anyone getting hold of this state secret is deemed to be anti-revolutionary and agent for the China bashing west.

    By any measure, this Ai Ziwei had been extremely lucky when taken away by PSB officers in uniform with such politeness. And this Chinese “Hippie” green-peace type beard man even had the freedom to take a picture in the elevator. Those old folks, in their 60s and 70s, who had gone through the “anti-culture” revolution turbulent years, couldn’t hide their jealousy of this jerk. All praised unanimously the CCP for great leap forward improvement in human rights, in particular reference to the kind treatment of this enemy of the people.

  • chinabriefing

    Man, you shouldn’t be looking for porn links at 1:52pm

  • chinabriefing

    That guy probably had to bribe the guards 100RMB to let him take a photo like that. You know, behind the back, Stephen Chow manner.

  • chinabriefing

    http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE57C5OQ20090813

    The U.S. government is covertly testing technology in China and Iran that lets residents break through screens set up by their governments to limit access to news on the Internet.

    The “feed over email” (FOE) system delivers news, podcasts and data via technology that evades web-screening protocols of restrictive regimes, said Ken Berman, head of IT at the U.S. government’s Broadcasting Board of Governors, which is testing the system.
    The news feeds are sent through email accounts including those operated by Google Inc, Microsoft Corp’s Hotmail and Yahoo Inc.

    “We have people testing it in China and Iran,” said Berman, whose agency runs Voice of America. He provided few details on the new system, which is in the early stages of testing. He said some secrecy was important to avoid detection by the two governments.

    The Internet has become a powerful tool for citizens in countries where governments regularly censor news media, enabling them to learn about and react to major social and political events.

    Young Iranians used social networking services Facebook and Twitter as well as mobile phones to coordinate protests and report on demonstrations in the wake of the country’s disputed presidential election in June.

    In May, ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, the Chinese government blocked access to Twitter and Hotmail.

    Sho Ho, who helped develop FOE, said in an email that the system could be tweaked easily to work on most types of mobile phones.

    The U.S. government also offers a free service that allows overseas users to access virtually any site on the Internet, including those opposing the United States.

    “We don’t make any political statement about what people visit,” Berman said. “We are trying to impart the value: ‘The more you know, the better.’ People can look for themselves.”

    In addition to China and Iran, targets for the FOE technology include Myanmar, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, he said.

    Berman, however, said there would be modest filtering of pornography on the system. “There is a limit to how much (U.S.) taxpayers should have to pay for,” he said.

  • asiasi8

    man, that is my style. I am turned on every minute, ready to take off.

  • justrecently

    Daily commentary about China by TIME correspondents —
    Daily?

  • johnsmith9876

    Great news. Chinese bureaucracy became much much more efficient. Only five days to rectify a problem:
    http://tinyurl.com/oh3ekl

  • johnsmith9876

    asiasi8: I am sure the links I posted has no facts at all. They are all Chinese news sites. Lies are all we can expect from Chinese.

  • johnsmith9876

    The real reason for Chinese to love CCP and Chinese government officials so much:

    http://tinyurl.com/qfznzv

    And this is a China.com.cn link. Of course, it’s all lies. Chinese people hates CCP !!!

  • bylooker

    WOW, johnsmith and *china*, you guys are working really hard…

    I am amazed. period.

    asiasi8, these guys don’t have a life. They are screwed one way or another…

  • chinatsunami

    Life have never been so good under the supreme leadership of CCP. Shall we sing again –

    天大地大不如党的恩情大
    爹亲娘亲不如毛主席亲
    千好万好不如社会主义好
    河深海深不如阶级友爱深
    毛泽东思想是革命的宝
    谁要是反对它
    谁就是我们的敌人
    天大地大不如党的恩情大
    爹亲娘亲不如毛主席亲
    千好万好不如社会主义好
    河深海深不如阶级友爱深
    毛泽东思想是革命的宝
    谁要是反对它
    谁就是我们的敌人

    This Aizi Wei is the enemy of the people, becasue he investigated how kids died inside classrooms built under the supreme supervision of CCP during earthquake.

  • chinatsunami

    One always has to remember dearly:

    天大地大不如党的恩情大

    Amend! CCP the greatest!

  • johnsmith9876

    Daily commentary about China by TIME correspondents –
    Daily?

    Of course not.

    Just like Peoples’ Republic of China.

    People ? No, CCP owns the place.
    Republic ? No. It is a dictatorship (Read your constitution !)
    China ? No. Just Hans.

    So it is really a CCP’s Dictatorhship of Hans.

  • asiasi8

    Why did you look for lies over and over tireless, if they are lies? You seem enjoy reading those lies, do you? I am a Chinese and I thought you have a balanced view………………

    and I just lied.

  • chinatsunami

    CCP says it’s not the party, it is the dictatorship of the proletarians. The “have-not” people entrust the 0.4% of the population, virtually all CCP goons and thugs to own 91% of national wealth.

    This is the People’s Republic of China today.

    Happy birthday for 60 years of riding on top of the people.

  • conscienceinchina

    “They’re showing less and less respect for the rights of citizens and for the rule of law.”

    —Talk about rights and law with the thug CCP? One word I just want to say, just as what the toad Jiang Zemin (江泽民) lectured Hong Kong correspondents years ago: Naive!

  • conscienceinchina

    “The Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIF)” has been doing that very well:

    Senate to Hillary: Support Cyber-Dissidents
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052970203946904574300641911723378.html#

  • chinatsunami

    Precisely, Jimmy Jiang not only lectured HKG paparossi as naive dogs, but also treating 1.3 billion 顺民 as naive suckers.

    請問白痴黨奴，有何實際政策，因勾結而得以推行而又利民！　四川豆腐渣建築工程，可能係最徫大政績！　連說真話的律師，亦反被判癲覆國家，基本上所有人都可以扣上同一罪名，包括黨奴及其親屬在內呀！

  • http://www.miahruth.com/2009/08/20/80-of-donated-funds-for-sichuan-earthquake-in-governments-pocket/ 80% of Donated Funds for Sichuan Earthquake in Government’s Pocket « Miah in China

    [...] Ai Weiwei, the Bird’s Next architect and activist, was held last week by police in a hotel during a trial in Sichuan for another imprisoned activist who has investigated the earthquake and tried to obtain justice for those who were killed inside poorly built buildings.  Admitting any wrongdoing is very shameful for the government, and their longstanding policy has been to cover up any dissent.  Public interest in the earthquake, after an initially huge outpouring of funds and resources, has largely dried up, and the search for justice continues quietly. August 20th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized [...]

  • http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2009/09/14/ai-weiwei-censorship-and-sacred-facts/ …My heart’s in Accra » Ai Weiwei, censorship and sacred facts

    [...] investigation of the earthquake and its consequences. Ai Weiwei was detained by Chengdu police, who came to his hotel at 3am, beat him and detained him for 11 hours, making it impossible to attend the [...]

  • http://china.blogs.time.com/2009/09/15/surgery-for-ai-weiwei-in-germany/ Surgery for Ai Weiwei in Germany – The China Blog – TIME.com

    [...] page.) Ai, who organized a campaign to tally student deaths in last year's Sichuan earthquake, was detained with other activists while in Chengdu to speak at the trial of Tan Zuoren. Tan, an editor and [...]

  • http://justrecently.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/ai-weiwei-undergoing-surgery-in-munich/ Ai Weiwei undergoing Surgery in Munich « Justrecently's Weblog

    [...] in his hotel room in Chengdu back then, where he prepared to attend a trial against Tan Zuoren, who had investigated the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, according to the Time China Blog. At the time of his arrest, Ai was  – also reportedly [...]

  • http://milesfromhome.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/ai-weiwei-chinas-continued-crackdown-on-truth-dissent/ Ai Weiwei & China’s Continued Crackdown on (Truth) Dissent « Miles from Home

    [...] to various reports, police came to Ai’s hotel room around 3am.  They detained him for 11 hours in order to ensure he would not make the trial.  It [...]

  • http://ahkyee.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/china-and-the-internet/ China and the internet « Andy Yee's Blog

    [...] Tan Zuoren, another activist who investigated the quake’s aftermath, which resulted in him being detained by the Sichuan police. The internet and his personal blog are very important tools to organize [...]

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