Ai Weiwei thumbs nose at China as donations pour in

http://www.nma.tv/ai-weiwei-thumbs-nose-china-donations-pour/

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has long been a thorn in the side of Communist authorities. He was detained for 81 days earlier this year without any official charges being filed. The incident raised an international outcry.

He was finally released on the condition that he not talk to the press about his time in detention. But as time passed, Ai chafed against this restriction and started writing on Twitter, a Chinese microblogging platform called weibo.com, and even penning a short article for Newsweek. Soon after, the Communist authorities slapped him with a 15 million RMB bill, supposedly for unpaid taxes and fines. That's about US$2.4 million.

When Ai went public with his plight, he was met with a groundswell of support from Chinese netizens. Donations poured in through his Weibo microblog, through wire transfers, even by cash folded into paper airplanes and thrown into his yard. In just three days, Ai raised five million RMB, or about a third of the total bill, from close to 19,000 donors.

It's not just about the money. Ai is a successful artist and probably could have found the money to pay the bill on his own. But by reaching out to the public for small donations, Ai and his supporters are sending a message to the Chinese authorities.

"This shows that a group of people who want to express their views are using their money to cast their votes," Ai said. The artist said the donation he has received will eventually be repaid.

Category:

News & Politics

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• Ai
• Weiwei
• China
• donations
• dissident
• artist
• weibo
• Taiwan
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[jellykka]

@yishkabob Ai Wei Wei gave a few ceramic sunflower seeds from his work to each of his supporter/donors. That's what's supposed to be in the envelop at the end of the animation.

[dtadeo2006]

@KonvoyChief approx 2.3m usd

[timfidotru]

@Mizzuru

I was just joking. Naturally enough, a state would try to shut down its dissidents.

[Mizzuru]

@timfidotru it wasn't really supposed to be, they set it so high that they'd assume he'd never be able to pay it, then they could justify sending him to jail, 2.3m is really just a drop in the sea for China at this point.

[chengyeh79]

I meant government

[chengyeh79]

china sucks

[yurianne07]

kind of a weird reversal: the chinese government now taxes people as punishment, whereas the usa government beats, tazers people as punishment. youd think it would be the other way around... :s

[greob]

China basically found a cheap way to get foreign money.

[Uatemydoodle]

dont get it

[espeon10]

I thought wei wei was a female actress

[timfidotru]

That's a great way to raise some money for the state budget!