China blocks well-known artist from boarding plane
49 replies, posted
[quote]
BEIJING – China blocked one of its most famous contemporary artists from taking a flight to Hong Kong on Sunday and police later raided his Beijing studio, the man's assistant said.
The artist, Ai Weiwei, is an outspoken government critic and has been barred from going abroad before.
China has launched a massive crackdown on lawyers, writers and activists, arresting and detaining dozens since February when online calls for protests similar to those in the Middle East and North Africa began to circulate. Ai has been keeping an informal tally of those detentions on Twitter, where he has more than 70,000 followers.
The studio assistant, who asked not to be identified by name, said Ai was going through customs at the Beijing Capital International Airport early Sunday when two officials escorted him away, leaving a traveling companion to board the flight alone.
It was not clear whether the 53-year-old artist and architectural designer had been detained or why he was barred from taking the flight, the assistant said. Ai's cellphone could not be reached and airport police refused to comment.
Police later arrived at Ai's studio with a search warrant and took several staff members to a police station for questioning, said the assistant, who was among the group taken by police. A man who answered the phone at the police station said he would check on the case, then hung up the phone. Subsequent calls to the number rang unanswered.
Around two dozen uniformed and plainclothes police could be seen in and around Ai's studio Sunday afternoon. An Associated Press videographer was told by police to stop filming and leave the area.
Ai, an avant-garde artist who recently exhibited at the Tate Modern gallery in London, was stopped from boarding a flight to Seoul in December. That incident came shortly after he had been invited to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway, honoring jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Liu is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion.
Ai said at the time that police had blocked him at the boarding gate and showed him a handwritten note that said he could cause damage to national security by leaving.
The son of one of China's most famous modern poets, Ai was courted by the Communist government as a cultural ambassador before his advocacy on behalf of social activists apparently made him a target of Chinese authorities.
Known for his distinctive scraggly beard and stocky frame, Ai was a consultant for the futuristic Bird's Nest stadium at the Beijing Olympics before souring on the event. He was later beaten and detained while attempting to attend the trial of an advocate for victims of the devastating 2008 earthquake in the southwestern city of Chengdu.
Alison Klayman, an American filmmaker who has been working on a documentary about Ai for more than two years, said Beijing police visited Ai's studio three times in the past week, checking the passports and identification of Chinese and foreign assistants working there and some visiting architecture students from Europe.
"The focus seemed to be on the fact that he had foreign employees," Klayman said by telephone from New York.[/quote]
Source: [URL]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_re_as/as_china_human_rights[/URL]
It's not as much the person as the circumstances, China has been very skittish lately about the recent revolutions in both the Middle East and North Africa, could the revolutionary fervor spread from the shores of Tripoli to the Orient? Probably not, but we've seen stranger things happen these few months, so I can't discount it.
:lol:
-snip to avoid flamewar-
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
So how will invading and destroying it make it better?
[QUOTE=SappinMyNick;28970792]So how will invading and destroying it make it better?[/QUOTE]
Okay, maybe not invading and destroying. More a kick in the pants.
[QUOTE=SappinMyNick;28970792]So how will invading and destroying it make it better?[/QUOTE]
Okay, maybe not invading and destroying. More a kick in the pants.
[QUOTE=SappinMyNick;28970792]So how will invading and destroying it make it better?[/QUOTE]
It'll take it from a metaphorical bloody shithole to a literal one.
Shit, that isn't an improvement!
Double post.
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
Excuse me, but have you been there?
-snip- slowpunch today
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
im so glad people like you dont have power over anything
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
Then where would 99% of the products we take for granted come from?
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
Wow.
woah triple-double post streak
[editline]3rd April 2011[/editline]
SWEBONNY
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
Someone, quick, promote this man to the Joint Chiefs of Staff!
He has [B]legendary[/B] ideas!
This happens in America all the time whats the big deal?
:911:
[QUOTE=Cree8ive;28970866]-Excuse me, but have you been there?[/QUOTE]
I have no wish to be arrested for breathing out of sync with the government, thanks.
You have to admit though, no country that does the sort of thing China does is a good country.
[QUOTE=s0beit;28971005]This happens in America all the time whats the big deal?
:911:[/QUOTE]
Lol when has this ever happened?
[QUOTE=Explosions;28971064]Lol when has this ever happened?[/QUOTE]
FBI in the 60s?
Admittedly, they didn't go to the extent of China (unless you were black, but it [B]was[/B] only the 60s).
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28970730]China needs to be invaded and destroyed; its a bloody shithole of a country.[/QUOTE]
I am taking this post very personally, as I've been born and raised in Norway, but both my mom and dad are originally from China, and you sound to me like an ignorant idiot who jumps to conclusion without even thinking.
China has a well developed society that people in the Western World might not recognize since we are used to other fundamental norms and laws. I have a lot against the policy they run in China as well, but I've been there several times and understand the situation there.
If they were such a shithole of a country, how do you explain the economical growth they've had in the last 10 years and how most of the things and products you have and buy are made in China?
[QUOTE=blazingfly;28971025]I have no wish to be arrested for breathing out of sync with the government, thanks.
You have to admit though, no country that does the sort of thing China does is a good country.[/QUOTE]
So you're saying China is a bad country? I agree that China is lacking in the fundamentals of freedom of speech and individual thinking, but you can't judge a whole country just because they're different from how we are used to.
A lot of the things China do is bad, but I'd say China has many good qualities that the Western World lack. It's because of these qualities that China has been able to put such a strong foothold in both the political and economical world today.
-snip-
This double/triple posting by accident is really annoying :saddowns:
[QUOTE=Cree8ive;28971154]I am taking this post very personally, as I've been born and raised in Norway, but both my mom and dad are originally from China, and you sound to me like an ignorant idiot who jumps to conclusion without even thinking.
China has a well developed society that people in the Western World might not recognize since we are used to other fundamental norms and laws. I have a lot against the policy they run in China as well, but I've been there several times and understand the situation there.
If they were such a shithole of a country, how do you explain the economical growth they've had in the last 10 years and how most of the things and products you have and buy are made in China?[/QUOTE]
It was a poor choice of words. Yes, there's been economic growth and a lot of the things you buy are made in China; especially electronics. However, the people simply do not have as wide a range of freedom as many countries.
But pre-emptive arrests? The world is changing; slowly, albeit, but recently several totalitarian regimes have fallen, and I can imagine China fighting hard to maintain control of its people.
Personally I tend to dislike anything that removes the free speech that a person should be entitled to. Eh, that's just me though. It's the 1% of heavily publicized arrests and restrictions and shit that get shown to you by the media that twist you into viewing China as 'backward'; the 99% other content, productive side of the country rarely gets shown.
[QUOTE=Cree8ive;28971237]So you're saying China is a bad country? I agree that China is lacking in the fundamentals of freedom of speech and individual thinking, but you can't judge a whole country just because they're different from how we are used to.
A lot of the things China do is bad, but I'd say China has many good qualities that the Western World lack. It's because of these qualities that China has been able to put such a strong foothold in both the political and economical world today.[/QUOTE]
What good qualities that the Western world lack are you referring to?
In what way does the PRC have a strong political foothold?
[quote]how do you explain the economical growth they've had in the last 10 years and how most of the things and products you have and buy are made in China?[/quote]
Because it's illegal to disregard the environment in pursuit of profit in my country, and no one here would ever work for such low wages, as $30,000 USD is the minimum wage, as opposed to Shanghai (which has the highest minimum wage in the PRC) at $2000 USD a year.
[QUOTE=Contag;28971289]What good qualities that the Western world lack are you referring to?
[b]In what way does the PRC have a strong political foothold?[/b][/QUOTE]
Contag, I'm pretty sure that you know China has the ability to affect the world trough politics and economy.
[editline]3rd April 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Contag;28971391]Because it's illegal to disregard the environment in pursuit of profit in my country, and no one here would ever work for such low wages, as $30,000 USD is the minimum wage, as opposed to Shanghai (which has the highest minimum wage in the PRC) at $2000 USD a year.[/QUOTE]
Bad way to compare as things are much more cheaper there. A wage of ~150 USD / month is enough to live a fairly normal life in Beijing. And China is the country that has spent most money on renewable energy technology (35 billion USD), it's not like they don't give a crap about the environment.
I think you need to look outside the box you are in. China isn't longer the country it was during the 80s. Things are obviously not perfect, even I understand that. But you can't deny that it has changed a lot, and probably will do it for the rest of its existence.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;28971449]Contag, I'm pretty sure that you know China has the ability to affect the world trough politics and economy.[/QUOTE]
Yes, by virtue of their economy, but in practice they aren't able to exercise a great deal of political power. Their isolationist (or rather, sovereignty is key) nature certainly doesn't help that.
The divided China issue highlights their lack of political power greatly.
Of course, this is all in comparison with the United States, which China, whilst approaching it is not nearly on par with.
[QUOTE=Contag;28971551]Yes, by virtue of their economy, but in practice they aren't able to exercise a great deal of political power. Their isolationist (or rather, sovereignty is key) nature certainly doesn't help that.
The divided China issue highlights their lack of political power greatly.
Of course, this is all in comparison with the United States, which China, whilst approaching it is not nearly on par with.[/QUOTE]
I understand what you mean. And yes China is quite far behind United States. It's like China just experienced the industrial revolution 60 years ago.
To be on topic:
Actions like these are pretty much what gives China its bad image, simply the lack of freedom. I don't see how a more openness would harm China in any way.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;28971449]Contag, I'm pretty sure that you know China has the ability to affect the world trough politics and economy.
[editline]3rd April 2011[/editline]
Bad way to compare as things are much more cheaper there. A wage of ~150 USD / month is enough to live a fairly normal life in Beijing. And China is the country that has spent most money on renewable energy technology (35 billion USD), it's not like they don't give a crap about the environment.
I think you need to look outside the box you are in. China isn't longer the country it was during the 80s. Things are obviously not perfect, even I understand that. But you can't deny that it has changed a lot, and probably will do it for the rest of its existence.[/QUOTE]
This.
I've been to China about 3 times with 3-4 years between each vacation and already decided to visit again this year.
Every time I've been there I've noticed how the society has changed, not much, but more to a comfortable level in which I recognize myself. In my opinion, China is getting influenced and evolving into a more Western society, simply because that is the easiest path for them to communicate with the world.
A few years back, people weren't allowed to travel outside of China on vacation, but today more and more people are permitted to leave the country just to have fun in foreign countries.
It's hard to accurately describe the changes going on in the Chinese community, but the changes are there. We should only let time do its work rather than just jump in and try to decide what they should do and decide what is good and wrong for them, causing more harm than good in the long run.
[QUOTE=Swebonny;28971449]
Bad way to compare as things are much more cheaper there. A wage of ~150 USD / month is enough to live a fairly normal life in Beijing. And China is the country that has spent most money on renewable energy technology (35 billion USD), it's not like they don't give a crap about the environment.
I think you need to look outside the box you are in. China isn't longer the country it was during the 80s. Things are obviously not perfect, even I understand that. But you can't deny that it has changed a lot, and probably will do it for the rest of its existence.[/QUOTE]
I agree that it's changed immensely, and will continue to modernize greatly.
My point was that due to the relative cost of labour (which was why I included the comparison of minimum wages - not that everyone in China lives in squalor), it was, and will continue to be, far more economical to produce things in China. The other point was that in order to achieve such rates of growth, it was necessary to disregard environmental concerns.
However, as you said, now that they have the infrastructure and economic power to do things in a far more sustainable fashion, they will tend to do so.
I think a rather elucidating fact is that the "China builds two coal power plants a week!!!" comment that is so often thrown about is actually due to the decommissioning of older, far less environmentally friendly plants.
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