环球时报英文版：Ai breaks his silence

Exclusive: Ai Weiwei breaks his silence
Global Times | August 09, 2011 22:09
By Liang Chen
Ai Weiwei relaxes in his studio in Caochangdi Art District with his cat after his release. Photo: Courtesy of Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei's first interview since being released from detention started with a tour of the renovations he's having done to his home and studio in the Caochangdi Art District in northeast Beijing.
"I'm having my studio and kitchen painted, and I've bought some new furniture to give the place a fresh look," said Ai, looking relaxed in a deep blue T-shirt that hung loosely on his more svelte frame.
Ai may have a new-look home and body but he remained politically feisty during a six-hour, exclusive interview with the Global Times.
Though a prestigious artist, he has been catching the world's attention more often in recent years through his vigorously campaigning for democracy than for his art. He has been labeled by international media as one of the strongest critics of the Chinese government.
While Ai continues to demand reforms, he said he has never called for a change to the form of China's government. "Overthrowing the regime through a radical revolution is not the way to solve China's problems," Ai said. "The most important thing is a scientific and democratic political system."
Throughout the day, Ai seemed his usual droll self, neither becoming too excited nor ever seeming despondent. At times he seemed flirtatious and was above all relaxed. "It feels good to be home," Ai said in an off-guard moment as he stretched out to pet his cocker spaniel.
The outspoken artist was released on bail on June 22 and the authorities said he had confessed to tax evasion and promised to pay the overdue amount. Authorities maintain Ai's company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd, had evaded a "huge amount" of taxes and intentionally destroyed accounting documents, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Ai's detention sparked an international outcry with the Western media politicizing the case and the Chinese government telling them to mind their own business.
Ai agreed to be interviewed but insisted that he not be asked about details of his detention.
Ai said he has resumed normal life and although a condition of his bail forbids him from using Twitter, he still surfs the Internet for news.
Most afternoon he spends several hours with his 2-year-old son, and he walks around the art district where he lives. "I didn't have much time with my family members before, but now I have plenty of time. I see my son as often as possible," Ai said with a fatherly smile on his face.
Despite the sensitive issues surrounding his case and his release, Ai talked openly about his emotions, ideas and his thoughts while in custody. "I was cut off from the outside world. No one told me when I would be released. It felt like I had fallen heavily into a collapsed pit," said Ai, sitting comfortably with his legs folded under him on his new couch.
Ai said not knowing what was happening to his case was the most worrying especially when he thought of his family. "I missed my mother and my son. I was worried that I might not get to see my son grow up," said Ai.
During the serene afternoon at Ai's expansive studio a cat strolls through the courtyard, glances at the dog and disappears. Ai admits he'll be more cautious in the future but he hasn't softened.
"I've been drawn into the vortex of politics," Ai told the Global Times. "I will never avoid politics, none of us can. We live in a politicized society."Ai crossed his arms and looked serious. He paused for a thought and continued: "You give up your rights when you dodge them. Of course you might live an easier life if you abandon some rights. But there are so many injustices, and limited educational resources. They all diminish happiness. I will never stop fighting injustice."
'Economic crime'
Ai was detained at the Beijing airport on April 3. The authorities disclosed until April 6 that the police was investigating Ai for suspected economic crimes. On June 22, the authorities released Ai on bail after he reportedly signed a statement indicating he was guilty of tax evasion and willing to pay the overdue tax bill, Xinhua reported.
Ai admitted to the Global Times that he signed a document but says it was not a confession. He agreed that if he were proven guilty he would accept the punishment.
"I am the art director of the company and don't really pay any attention to its financial situation," he conceded.
Ai's wife Lu Qing is the legal representative of the design company.
The artist's claim of innocence is not all that convincing to his many critics.
"The crux of the matter is simple: Ai is involved in a criminal case. He was detained because he was suspected of having evaded a large amount of taxes," Liu Nanlai, vice director of the Research Center of the Human Rights at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) told the Global Times.
Liu explained that even though Ai said he was not aware of tax evasion conducted by his accountant, obviously, "the accountant won't evade tax without any order from management."
Xiong Qiuhong, the director of the Institute of the Criminal Action Law at the CASS said that it is common for Chinese artists to intentionally or unintentionally evade taxes.
"Many famous artists have been caught and punished for evading taxes. Ai's case is not the only one," Xiong said.
Xiong wants the local authorities to try Ai in a public trial on tax evasion. "In this way, we can prevent Westerners from politicizing the case," Xiong said.
Xiong also warned, "if you are a dissident, you should keep your ass clean and not get involved in any crime, so that local governments cannot find you guilty."
Political artist
While the international community has lauded Ai for his art and for pushing the boundaries of free speech in China, many Chinese experts have criticized him for his extreme acts both in art and politics.
The influential conservative television pundit and Internet blogger Sima Nan criticized Ai for insulting the nation. Sima was particularly upset with Ai's controversial photograph showing Ai standing nude with a toy horse covering his private parts with a caption that cryptically read "Mud grass horse party central committee." In Chinese the homonyms for "mud grass horse" would mean something sexual done to another's mother.
"Is that really art? If that's really art, then anyone can become an artist," Sima told the Global Times excitedly.
"As an artist, Ai has crossed the boundary of art and involved himself in the political arena. He claims freedom while he has no idea freedom is accompanied by responsibility. Spreading speeches that instigate the public to challenge the rule of the Communist Party is a violation of Constitutional
principles."
Ai was an avid user of social media. Before he was detained Ai had 92,000 followers on Twitter, which is banned in China but can be accessed through overseas backdoor channels for a price. He has tweeted more than 60,000 times – most of which advocate democracy and free speech.
"I don't mean to politicize my artwork. I'm complying with the principles of ethics and aesthetics. Art is connected to politics," Ai told the Global Times.
Ai spent 12 years in New York where he had several exhibitions of his works and met visiting Chinese artists such as film directors Feng Xiaogang and Chen Kaige, and composer Tan Dun.
He also gained fame for having a hand in the design of Beijing's iconic National Stadium known as the Bird's Nest.
Ai also conducted his own, private investigation into the list of schoolchildren killed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquakes. He clashed with local authorities after claiming the number of students killed were high because their schools were poorly constructed. He mounted a shocking and disturbing installation in Europe that comprised of 9,000 brightly colored student backpacks.
His activism hasn't hurt the sale of his art. In February, Ai's piece "Kuihuazi" (Sunflower Seeds) sold for $560,000 at Sotheby's in London after it had been on display at the Tate Modern's Turbine Hall in London.
"I felt very humbled by the high price, but it's all determined by the market," Ai said with a shrug. "I don't need much money for a luxurious life. My life is simple. What I want is the opportunity for everyone in the country to share in a just society."
Some critics have also condemned Ai for his close connections to what they call "foreign forces who want to descend China into turmoil."
"Foreign countries won't pass up any opportunity to defame the Chinese government and threaten the regime to prevent China from enjoying its hard-earned era of peace and development," Sima Nan said.
"Ai's case has been used by the Westerners," Wu Danhong, an assistant professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times. Wu is another critic who says Ai may be in cahoots with an unseen international conspiracy. "By condemning China's repression of dissidents in the name of democracy, foreign countries that don't want a stronger China intentionally attempt to descend China into turmoil by hyping Ai's case."
Yet Wu also wants to see a more transparent legal system in China that will enhance public trust. "Dealing with legal cases openly and transparently will plug the loopholes that are being used by the ill-intentioned," Wu said.
'No one is above the law'
Contingent on his being allowed to leave China, Ai has accepted a teaching offer at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Even though the terms of his release restrict him to Beijing for a year, Ai said he would never consider permanently leaving the country. "People with black hearts should be exiled, I will never leave," Ai said with a laugh.
Although the outspoken artist is banned from speaking to the Western media, "including through Twitter," for at least one year, he returned to the Internet via a Google+ account last week.
Along with his innocuous inaugural comments on Google+ ("I'm here, greetings," and "Here's proof of life"), he also posted a gallery of black and white photographs from his time in New York as a young artist in the 1980's and early 1990's.
The Google+ community has quickly taken notice. As of the press time, more than 9,000 users have added Ai to their circle of contacts.
"Look, the information explosion, and the development of the Internet, have made the impossible possible. This is the best time for China," Ai said.
Ai said although he has strong political opinions he is not all that sure of himself. "I'm an artist, but I'm more than that. I'm the type of person who can easily feel insecure and fill with worry," said Ai pensively. "I just want to do something to increase our sense of security in China."
Ai agreed to talk to the Global Times even though the paper's editorial was highly critical of the West's politicizing of the case against the rebel artist. It was one of the few papers in China to touch the subject of Ai's detention who said he agrees with the editorial's main premise.
"No one is above the law," said Ai.
少数批评者不代表中国民意
2011年08月11日 13:02:18 来源：环球时报
美国《基督教科学箴言报》8月10日文章，原题：中国的批评者不代表中国民意
政治上被压制的一些中国知识分子，将近期的动车事故描述为中共缺陷的标志，还警告快速增长的经济危机四伏。

然而，这些以网络为阵地的精英们是在发泄私愤，并非在为中国民众的意愿呐喊。

动车事故后，突然间整个中国政治体系似乎被置于审判席上，其经济发展模式也颜面尽失。

在势不可挡的微博力量助推下，西方评论家开始试图拉倒中国奇迹。

有人甚至想象，火车将空无一人。

然而，要用事实来说话。

京沪高铁开行首月发送旅客525万人，这是无可争议的数据。

上座率虽遭质疑，但最保守的统计也达50%。

甚至那些最猛烈抨击铁路的人也承认，常规铁路系统的上座率几乎与以前一样接近满员。

为什么会有反差？因为这是少数人的喧嚣。

过去10年，互联网快速增长创造出一个数字广场，凶猛成为其独特现象。

中国网民大多将网络用以消遣和商业，少部分人却利用它发泄对生活、社会和世界的不满，用最大声音对不满意的事表达最强烈的情绪。

互联网的特性导致这些情绪被放大并呈现出主导一切的表象。

而这种表象基于片面而非全貌、具有极端性而非代表性。

难怪任何偶然进入这个数字广场的人，都会看到一个充斥着最极端民粹主义和民族主义的中国。

了解这种媒介特性的人都知道，此类表达方式远不能反映普通网民的观点，遑论普罗大众。

它充其量是舆论的晴雨表之一。

最坏的情况则是美国《外交政策》近期将其称为“谣言人民共和国”。

中国近几十年的崛起给千百万普通民众带来繁荣，却让一个特殊群体——伪知识分子陷入精神真空。

当代中国是由广大民众建立的。

如今管理国家的是政治和商业技术专家——而非文人，他们的能力尽管不够完美，却显而易见。

这令伪知识分子陷入尴尬。

这群人表达不满的叙事方式并非真实可靠。

我们此前已多次目睹类似场景：围绕对三峡大坝建设的不满被解读为对大坝工程本身的普遍强烈反对；世博会被攻击为不受上海居民欢迎的挥霍工程，所谓的证据五花八门，比如针对地铁建设引起的建筑乱局的不满。

但如今，任何一名地铁乘客都会告诉你，每天好不容易才能挤进地铁车厢。

伪知识分子称：中国人普遍对近30年来的经济发展不满；高速发展引发的贫富差距和腐败等的代价大于所带来的好处……然而，中国民众似乎并不认同他们的观点。

每次客观的舆情调查都表明中国百姓对持续的快速经济发展非常满意，对未来持前所未有的乐观态度。

中国仍将沿着与其自身文化背景契合的政治轨迹前行，而非跟从西方模式。

中国有句古话：水能载舟亦能覆舟。

舆论就是水。

那些寻求理解中国并预测其未来进程的人不应错判民众的声音。

而对中国的统治者来说，错误解读声音带来的危险比干脆不读还要大。

▲（作者李世默，王会聪译）
Opinion
China's critics don't represent the voice of the Chinese people
China's politically-stifled intelligentsia has painted the recent train accident as a symbol of the Communist Party's failings, warning against the perils of rapid economic growth. But these Internet-wielding elite are venting personal frustration, not voicing the will of the Chinese people.
By Eric X. Li / August 9, 2011
Shanghai
Two trains collided and 40 people died. The transportation accident seems to be riveting the Chinese nation and dominating its newspaper pages, TV screens, and the Internet. It has claimed prominent spaces in leading international media outlets.
All of a sudden, the entire Chinese political system seems to be on trial, its economic development model – with the high-speed rail project its latest symbol – discredited; the Chinese people are in an uproar; and Western commentators are again pronouncing a sea change that this time, with the overwhelming force of microblogs, will finally begin to bring down the Chinese miracle. One would imagine, at the very least, the trains would be totally empty.
Yet again, reality is intervening.
The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail line finished its first month of operation having carried five and a quarter million passengers – a number not in dispute. The percentage of capacity number is very much in dispute because of differing statistical models, but even the most conservative interpretations would have the trains half full. This is not shabby for such a large-scale project in its first month, during which a much publicized fatal accident occurred. In the rest of the regular rail system, where the accident actually happened, even the fiercest critics of the railway project are admitting that the trains are nearly full as usual.
Where is the disconnect?
Loud minority voices
In the past decade, rapid growth of the Internet has created a digital public square, and its ferocity has become a unique phenomenon. While the vast majority of China’s 480 million netizens use the Internet for entertainment and commerce, a smaller group uses it to vent dissatisfaction about life, society, and the world. They express their most intense feelings about what they are most dissatisfied with in the loudest voices possible.
The nature of the Internet is such that these sentiments are amplified and assume a semblance of dominance. Its manifestation is by definition partial but not holistic, extreme but not representative. Little wonder that any casual visitor to the Chinese digital public square would find a China filled with the most extreme expressions of populism and nationalism.
Those who understand the nature of this medium would know that these expressions, while legitimate, are far from reflecting the general views of average netizens, much less the population at large. When put into an objective analytical framework, it is, at best, but one of the barometers of public opinion, and certainly not the most significant. At worst it is what Foreign Policy magazine has recently termed the “People’s Republic of Rumors.”
The frustration of the pseudo-literati
Now enter the pseudo-literati. China’s dramatic a scendancy in the last 60 years has brought prosperity to hundreds of millions of ordinary Chinese people, yet has left this particular group in a psychological vacuum. For centuries, the literati, or Shidafu, have
dominated imperial China’s politics throug h the meritocratic Keju exam. They belonged to the intelligentsia but were effectively China’s ruling class through a vast bureaucracy. Their claim to moral authority was in accordance with the Confucian ideal that they ruled for the benefit of the people.
Much of China’s political and literary history had been written to reflect the triumphs and sufferings of generations after generations of aspiring and practicing literati. Ever since the fall of imperial China, the Chinese intelligentsia has never ceased to identify itself as the inheritors of the Shidafu mantle with a rightful claim to political power. During the Mao era they were kept completely on the sidelines and sometimes brutally repressed. Since Deng’s reform 32 years ago, they have seen their liv elihoods improve and liberties expanded significantly.
But modern China was established by the Chinese masses, led by the Communist Party, and today is run by political and commercial technocrats who are pointedly not literati and whose competency, though not perfect, is rather obvious. This has left this self-identifying and self-selecting group of people in a most awkward place: They are members of the intelligentsia living comfortably but without political power to which they feel a special entitlement based on long historical tradition. They have become pseudo-literati.
Not being able to go into politics, many pseudo-literati have over the years gone to work in China’s highly fragmented media industry. In that, they found themselves even more frustrated. Their desire to influence politics is restrained and sometimes repressed by the political authority of the central government. Such is China’s political system.
In their frustration they have bought into the Western ideological notion that the media must be independent of political authority and has the moral responsibility to check the power of the state. Combining this ideological conversion with their feeling of lost entitlement to power, they have appointed themselves as the rightful opposition to Communist Party rule. And they have found the partiality and extremism of the digital public square their most fertile soil. They have sought to interpret the venting of dissatisfaction on the digital public square as representative of the will of the people.
The narrative of dissatisfaction isn't real
We have indeed seen this movie many times before. The dissatisfaction expressed around the dislocations caused by the building of the Three Gorges Dam was interpreted as a strong general opposition to the dam project itself. The Shanghai World Expo was attacked as a wasteful project unwelcome by the residents of Shanghai. One of their pieces of evidence was the loud expression of dissatisfaction many netizens expressed online about the construction chaos caused by the building of the large-scale Shanghai subway as a part of the Expo. They widely publicized the empty trains during the initial months of the new subway lines’ operation a s proof.
But of course, any rider today will tell you that now one would have to squeeze into these trains every day – an interesting replay of what is being said about the high-speed railways.
RELATED: How China will -- and won't -- change the world
What is central to all this is that the pseudo-literati, in their effort to carve out a moral space for themselves in the Chinese political landscape, have taken the expressions in the digital public square and created an Orwellian 1984 of Chinese public opinion. They are writing in their newspapers and spreading through their microblogs a virtual and parallel reality of Chinese society.
The narrative goes like this: The Chinese people are generally dissatisfied with the rapid economic development of the last 30 years; the benefits of speedy development are not worth the costs of its byproducts, namely the wealth gap and corruption, just as an accident discredits the entire infrastructure undertaking of the high-speed rail project. Every disaster, whether natural or due to human error, is proof that the current political system has lost the trust of the people.
And who is to repres ent the will of the people to overturn all this injustice? Of course it’s them, and the media is somehow ordained to lead this revolution. The opinion piece in the immediate aftermath of the accident by a respected commentator essentially repeats this storyline for Westerners in English.
The Chinese people support growth and ride the train
There are only two problems with this plan. One, the Chinese people don’t seem to be in on it. Just about every credible public-opinion survey points to strong satisfaction of the Chinese people with the rapid economic development that has been taking place, and they look to the future with unprecedented optimism. The pseudo-literati are loudly demanding a dramatic slowdown in GDP growth. If the Communist Party acceded to their demand, would the Chinese people tolerate that?
Two, China is moving along a political trajectory that is uniquely suitable to its own cultural context and not following a Western model in which the media is an independent forth estate. China will never have its own Rupert Murdoch.
The victims of this terrible train accident will be properly mourned and their families fairly compensated with respect and dignity. The cause of the accident must be thoroughly investigated and prevented for the future. The country will move on.
This author predicts that, in a few years’ time, China’s high-speed railways will be transporting hundreds of millions of people and bringing enormous economic and social benefits to the Chinese people, just as the Three Gorges Dam is delivering much-needed electricity to tens of millions of ordinary families and Chinese industry, and the Shanghai
subway built for the World Expo is providing efficiency and convenience to 20 million Shanghai residents.
There is an old Chinese saying: The people are like water and the ruler is a ship on that water; water can carry the ship, water can overturn the ship. Chinese vox populi– that is the water. What is the vox populi saying? Those who seek to understand China and predict its future course should not misjudge the people's voice. For those who rule China, misreading that voice carries greater peril than not reading it at all.
Eric X. Li is a venture capitalist in Shanghai and a doctoral candidate at Fudan University’s School of International Relations and Public Affairs.。