Ai Weiwei Quotes
No one in China has a solid belief or trust in society.
Ai Weiwei, Chinese Artist, Architect, Designer, and Dissident, Quoted in Smithsonian Magazine, October 2014
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
There have been tides of public trust that ebb and flow in almost every decade.
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist. Ai grew up in the far north-west of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, for "economic crimes". He was detained for 81 days without charge. Ai Weiwei emerged as a vital instigator in Chinese cultural development, an architect of Chinese modernism, and one of the nation's most vocal political commentators.