The Chinese government, that's who.
Mr. Ai, a prominent and provocative artist, collaborated with Hu Jie in the making of Red Art (1). He was imprisoned for 81 days earlier this year. Now he's been hit with a $2.4 million bill by the People's Liberation Tax Collector. He can't pay it. Is it possible to help Ai out here by sending donations? If so and somebody can send me information I'll contribute: publocc@gmail.com.
Chinese microblogs, like Weibo, are coming under greater censorship. Microblogs, I'm told, are the equivalent of Twitter and other social networking sites. I don't know how that stuff works as evidenced by my alarm a few months back when there were something like 561 hits on Public Occurrences one day. According to a report in the New York Times last week the CCP Central Committee had a meeting on "internet management." The focus of the meeting was curtailing the spread of "harmful information" via the microblogs.
The censorship conferees also decided to spruce up, in their fashion, broadcasting to weed out "excessive vulgarity and entertainment." I would like to make witness that there is no such thing on Chinese TV. My first time in the country in 2006 I plopped myself on the bed in my hotel room and did the first thing it occurs to an American to do in a new city or country: I turned on the television. There was an interview of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on state TV. The young, earnest Chinese interviewer was reading the questions and reading them in a soft voice. Karzai answered in a soft voice. It was like the conversation at a wake. It was the most deadening TV interview I've ever seen. Even Karzai seemed to be bored. I remember being struck by his eyes. They seemed unnaturally large, as when one is trying to fend off sleep. I felt myself going into a coma and turned it off after 15 minutes. The censorship committee is going to limit entertainment shows to two per week, 90 minutes each. Chinese couch potatoes can expect more interviews, but not of Ai Weiwei.
1. See posts here March 5, 6, 2011.
