April 06 2011
Ai Weiwei has been detained by police, according to overseas media reports.
The outspoken artist was stopped attempting to board a flight from Beijing to Hong Kong and then taken away by police, overseas media reported on Sunday. Ai's phone was still disconnected Tuesday.
The detention of Ai was not reported by mainstream Chinese media, although there were a few discussions at online forums.
Ai's wife Lu Qing and several employees had also been taken into custody during a raid on his studio on the outskirts of Beijing on Sunday, according to the New York Times.
Police took away a computer, computer disks and other materials, Lu Qing was quoted as saying by AFP. She was not told the reason for the search or why Ai was taken away.
Ministry of Public Security publicity department chief Wen Guohui did not respond to a fax sent to him by the Global Times seeking to know the condition of Ai.
The incident should be addressed and resolved through correct legal procedures, Shi Yinhong, a professor with the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times Tuesday. In recent years, he said, the authorities have been more cautious and considered in handling detention cases.
"What Ai did may have crossed the bottom line of the law," Shi said. "And the government is just executing the function of maintaining stability."
The incident would not polarize Chinese society, Shi said.
He said it is improper to make a hasty conclusion about the relationship between Ai and the development of society.
"Such kinds of judgments should be made by historians in the future," Shi said.
Ai's studio in Shanghai was torn down in January by local authorities alleging Ai had failed to follow proper application procedures. Two of the artist's better-known documentaries include a film about Yang Jia, murderer of six Shanghai police officers and another about scholar Feng Zhenghu who was stranded in Tokyo's Narita airport for 92 days before flying home to Shanghai.
