4 ms·

Ai always gets attention from inside the country and he has been there for a long time. Waves of such people left or disappeared in public's view. He's still th

by LiweiZ 8y ago

Ai always gets attention from inside the country and he has been there for a long time. Waves of such people left or disappeared in public's view. He's still there. Someone can stay and do a lot of opposing things and get and be able to keep constant public attentions is like a miracle. Why he? Why not others like him? He's like collecting those badges every time the government did something to him. And he's doing good and better. If you know China and know what people act like him could have faced, he is such an odd spot. I know westerners like him, giving him a lot of high quality badges. He has a quite rooted network to keep him safe and do a lot of fancy things delivered to public and shows this off. All sides seem to need him. Sorry for the rant. As a Chinese, I just hate those people with very special privilege to show off in the name of some symbol impressing outsiders and has nothing to do with all those truly matter.

gscott 8y ago
He has spent time in jail. He seems like a hero to me.
- LiweiZ 8y ago
  And he got back to be in the view of the public proudly. He did ok in the jail. Jail time became another shining badge. Do you know those reports in China regarding serious food quality issues over the past two decades? If you do, do you know how the first reporters for those news ended up? China for me is not just a symbol. So I want to give out another angle many are not aware of.
  - singularity2001 8y ago
    Reporting so openly and courageously, you must be living outside China?
    - LiweiZ 8y ago
      You mean the reporters I memtioned? No, they are/were all in China.
kurthr 8y ago
From the fine article, he doesn't live in China any more... after they beat him and locked him away for a year and took away his passport. That's ignoring the forced confession, and several million in fines. Yeah, I'm sure he got out because he's rich and famous... and what he did was embarrass an official? I like China and its people, but this argument doesn't make much sense. It's the last part (not the middle) that makes it impossible to fix corruption.
- LiweiZ 8y ago
  'ignoring the forced confession' That's extremely hard for someone to get away with. He can simply ignore it? I do not follow Ai's news after I did a little research many years ago. He's famous on HN. So I wanted to find out what this guy did and what his works were like at that time. IIRC, he is a son of a ruling party's famous poetist which indicates he has some strong connections. Last time I read some news of him was live stream his own life in Beijing's studio or something like that. Of course, with his experience, acceptance/approval level in western world and his art skills (he has some real art work. For me, his work is facing outsider customers, expressing the customer's view of China in a bit above average customers' way.), he is among the best options for some field. I don't understand what you mean by mentioning 'last part (not the middle)'.
  - kurthr 8y ago
    Years ago, I'd seen some his art in China and liked it, and I vaguely know he's an activist, but I don't follow it so I didn't know he had left the country until I read the article. I don't think anyone would know what had happened if he wasn't internationally famous. What I meant (by 'the last part') is that if we excuse the government for politically motivated force to punish non-violent dissent for any reason, then we are agreeing with the worst form of corruption. Bribes (and excusing them) are bad enough, but excusing threats, violence, and property destruction by the state is worse. How to create a better (more fair) place to live for the poor and weak with this kind of threat, when even the wealthy, connected, and famous can't speak up? When I see this sort of acceptance from my colleagues from Africa, India, South America it saddens me just as much as it does in China.
timpattinson 8y ago
So would you be happier if they just made him disappear?
- LiweiZ 8y ago
  There would be another guy like him then. This is a market for this kind of person. And I wish my opinions matter. LOL. Thanks for asking.
atombender 8y ago
> He's still there. He's not. After everything he went through, he moved to Germany. Criticizing Ai Weiwei as a person of privilege who's able to get away with things conveniently ignores the harrassment and subjugation by the Chinese authorities that he's endured. It sounds rather like you're condemning him for somehow not suffering enough, in proportion to the severity of his dissidence?
- LiweiZ 8y ago
  Well, see my other comments here. I might sound that way to people don't realize the real consequences of many of his activities if someone else did something similar.

by LiweiZ 8y ago

gscott 8y ago

He has spent time in jail. He seems like a hero to me.

LiweiZ 8y ago
And he got back to be in the view of the public proudly. He did ok in the jail. Jail time became another shining badge. Do you know those reports in China regarding serious food quality issues over the past two decades? If you do, do you know how the first reporters for those news ended up? China for me is not just a symbol. So I want to give out another angle many are not aware of.
- singularity2001 8y ago
  Reporting so openly and courageously, you must be living outside China?
  - LiweiZ 8y ago
    You mean the reporters I memtioned? No, they are/were all in China.

kurthr 8y ago

From the fine article, he doesn't live in China any more... after they beat him and locked him away for a year and took away his passport. That's ignoring the forced confession, and several million in fines. Yeah, I'm sure he got out because he's rich and famous... and what he did was embarrass an official? I like China and its people, but this argument doesn't make much sense. It's the last part (not the middle) that makes it impossible to fix corruption.

LiweiZ 8y ago
'ignoring the forced confession' That's extremely hard for someone to get away with. He can simply ignore it? I do not follow Ai's news after I did a little research many years ago. He's famous on HN. So I wanted to find out what this guy did and what his works were like at that time. IIRC, he is a son of a ruling party's famous poetist which indicates he has some strong connections. Last time I read some news of him was live stream his own life in Beijing's studio or something like that. Of course, with his experience, acceptance/approval level in western world and his art skills (he has some real art work. For me, his work is facing outsider customers, expressing the customer's view of China in a bit above average customers' way.), he is among the best options for some field. I don't understand what you mean by mentioning 'last part (not the middle)'.
- kurthr 8y ago
  Years ago, I'd seen some his art in China and liked it, and I vaguely know he's an activist, but I don't follow it so I didn't know he had left the country until I read the article. I don't think anyone would know what had happened if he wasn't internationally famous. What I meant (by 'the last part') is that if we excuse the government for politically motivated force to punish non-violent dissent for any reason, then we are agreeing with the worst form of corruption. Bribes (and excusing them) are bad enough, but excusing threats, violence, and property destruction by the state is worse. How to create a better (more fair) place to live for the poor and weak with this kind of threat, when even the wealthy, connected, and famous can't speak up? When I see this sort of acceptance from my colleagues from Africa, India, South America it saddens me just as much as it does in China.

timpattinson 8y ago

So would you be happier if they just made him disappear?

LiweiZ 8y ago
There would be another guy like him then. This is a market for this kind of person. And I wish my opinions matter. LOL. Thanks for asking.

atombender 8y ago

> He's still there. He's not. After everything he went through, he moved to Germany. Criticizing Ai Weiwei as a person of privilege who's able to get away with things conveniently ignores the harrassment and subjugation by the Chinese authorities that he's endured. It sounds rather like you're condemning him for somehow not suffering enough, in proportion to the severity of his dissidence?

LiweiZ 8y ago
Well, see my other comments here. I might sound that way to people don't realize the real consequences of many of his activities if someone else did something similar.