Ai Wei Wei’s Detention

As it has been previously reported by several news sources (including the London Telegraph on Apr 6, 2011) Ai Wei Wei, the Chinese artist and activist, was detained by authorities in April 2011 at Beijing Airport where he was about to board a flight to Hong Kong.

Mr. Ai was a collaborating architect on the Beijing National Stadium - “the Bird’s Nest” built for the 2008 Olympic Games. Mr. Ai has long been a social activist along with Liu Xiobao, the imprisoned 2010 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. Together they have shed light on government corruption.

Since then Wei Wei was released which some observers maintain was a matter of China bowing to international pressure on human rights, especially from its largest trading partner, the European Union, as the Chinese government had ramped up a crackdown on critics and dissidents in an attempt to muzzle calls for protests in the wake of Jasmine “revolution” in North Africa. During this time, President Obama praised China in a number of stump speeches touting the communist regime’s economic success evidenced in part by the construction of modern high rises and infrastructure in cities like Beijing and Szechuan.