I  Do It My Way - Ai Wei Wei







2:47PM GMT 21 Nov 2011
By Monday afternoon, 70 people had posted nude photos of themselves on a website called "Ai Wei Fans' Nudity – Listen, Chinese Government: Nudity is not Pornography" – a rare form of protest in a country where public nudity is still taboo.


They uploaded the photos after Beijing police questioned Ai's assistant on Thursday for allegedly spreading pornography online by taking nude photographs of Ai and four women.


Supporters of Ai, whose 81-day secret detention earlier this year sparked an international outcry, say that the questioning over the nude photographs is China's latest effort to intimidate its most famous social critic.
The videographer, Zhao Zhao, said Beijing police interrogated him for about four hours on the motives behind the photographs.


"They said: 'Don't you know that the photos that you've taken are obscene photos?'" Zhao told Reuters by telephone. "I said: 'I didn't know that' and said 'how can they be considered obscene?' They said they've characterised them as such."


Ai paid a bond of 8.45 million yuan ($1.3 million) last Tuesday, paving the way to file what he fears may be an ultimately futile appeal on a tax evasion charge that his supporters have said is a political vendetta. The money was raised from contributions from his supporters.


Wen Yunchao, who posted two nude photographs of himself on the website, said he believed the investigation against Ai's assistant was the latest form of "persecution" against Ai.


"This is a matter that has made many people very indignant," Hong Kong-based Wen said. "Because the interpretation of people's naked bodies in itself is an individual freedom and a form of creative freedom. Also, we don't see any pornographic elements in (Ai's) photographs. So we are using this extreme method to express our protest."


Many of the photos posted on the website were accompanied with politically tinged commentaries.


"Grandpa, is this pornography?" wrote a user, who was photographed bare-bottomed and writing on a wall with the words "'89 political turmoil," referring to the June 4, 1989, armed crackdown in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
During Ai's confinement, police had also questioned him about the nude photographs that were taken in August last year, Ai told Reuters.


Ai said the nude photographs had no deeper political meaning and were not meant to criticise the government, but he added that the government could perceive the photos as a "rebellious act".


"We did it because it was a way to remove fear and the feeling of isolation," Ai told Reuters. "Because fear and the feeling of isolation are defining characteristics in certain societies.


"Today, in reality, these (actions) are inappropriate for the time being. So when I see everyone like this, I feel young people still have some conscience."


 

On 3.4.2011, the Artist was detained by Chinese officials at Beijing airport for "economic crimes Recently, a studio he was building in Shanghai was completely demolished without any warning or reason. He is a man that is under constant surveillance by the Chinese Government.   Ai Weiwei has contributed to the Chinese contemporary art scene since moving back to China after his education in The States in the 1980's. He has created an artist community in Beijing where galleries and studios are occupied by Chinese and international artists.    Ai Weiwei's situation has been summed up;  "...for anyone who believes in the power of ideas, of human imagination, it is heartbreaking to see one of the world's great artists shackled in this way."   He continues to taunt the Chinese government even as they try to keep him quiet.   

photo apparently broke the government into action.                                                        
It shows the artist naked except for a toy horse concealing his genitals. The caption has a double meaning in Chinese, so millions of internet users have seen the six characters interpreted as: "Fuck your mother, the party central committee." 

When he disappeared in April, supporters made online appeals for his return. When authorities handed him a £1.5m tax bill recently, they sent money to help pay the fine. And now that he faces an investigation for spreading pornography – his admirers have stripped off. 

Internet users began tweeting their nude photographs after Ai Weiwei announced that authorities had questioned his cameraman over pictures which showed the artist and four naked women.   "We are simply using an eye-catching way to attract people's attention. There are so many pornography websites in China, they don't regulate them, yet say that this is spreading pornography." Wen Yunchao, a blogger in Hong Kong who posted two nude photographs of himself, told Reuters: "This is a matter that has made many people very indignant. The interpretation of people's naked bodies in itself is an individual freedom and a form of creative freedom. Also, we don't see any pornographic elements in [Ai's] photographs. So we are using this extreme method to express our protest." 

By Monday afternoon 21 Nov 2011,70 people had posted nude photos of themselves on a website called "Ai Wei Fans' Nudity – Listen, Chinese Government: Nudity is not Pornography" – a rare form of protest in a country where public nudity is still taboo. 











Note :  A very Good way to make a statement !!