Results tagged “aiweiwei”

• Changsha sculptors are carving a giant 100-foot-tall statue of Mao ZeDong out of granite, but many are complaining it doesn't look like Mao. Netizens say it reminds them of the Sphinx while one British paper has drawn a comparison to Lord Byron. [Telegraph]
• Even more than wanting to see the pictures from Taiwan's largest gay parade ever, you probably want to hear what Chinese netizen reactions were on it. Lucky we have Chinasmack, eh? [Chinasmack]
• Get to know a little more about the "Father of Chinese Aerospace" (aka "Rocket King") Qian xuesen, who helped launch the P.R.C.'s missile program after, ironically, leaving the U.S. over accusations of having Communist ties. He passed away this weekend. [Wall Street Journal]

• Ai Weiwei, censorship and sacred facts [My Heart's in Accra] "My friend Michael Anti posted a tweet earlier today about Chinese artist and political activist, Ai Weiwei: "Ai Weiwei to undergo cranial surgery in Germany within hours, a month after beaten by Chengdu police. Let’s pray for him."The post caught my eye because Xiao Qiang, founder of China Digital Times, spoke about Ai’s increasingly vocal protests in talking about the Internet’s transformation of activism in China at the Cloud Intelligence symposium in Linz, Austria."
• Going Solar [Beijing Review] "Tight credit, weak demand, excess capacity, bloated inventories and escalating price competition all have hurt China's export-reliant solar power companies and have left many struggling for their lives during the global recession. But the largest of them, Wuxi-headquartered Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd., is about to breathe a little easier after securing several deals with the Chinese Government and opening factories in the United States to mitigate pressures from shrinking demand in European markets"
• Coca-Cola Says Another Former Worker Is Detained in China [New York Times] "Coca-Cola Inc. said Tuesday that a second manager who worked in the company’s Shanghai bottling plant has been detained by police on suspicion of accepting bribes or kickbacks. The announcement came just days after Coca-Cola confirmed that a middle manager at the same facility, the Shanghai Shenmei Beverage & Food Co., was detained earlier this year in a bribery investigation."

The planned protests against the Green Dam Youth Escort turned into celebrations on Wednesday, when Chinese authorities suddenly postponed their order of the infamous censorware program. In turn, Lots of young Chinese netizens gathered to turn their Green Dam anger into a feast.

Oh that troublesome Ai Weiwei! Not content to stick to taking subversive pictures around Tiananmen Square or investigating Sichuan Earthquake victims, he's now starting internet blackout protest days!

• 'Empire of the Sun' author J.G. Ballard dies [USA TODAY] "Writer J.G. Ballard, best known for the autobiographical novel Empire Of The Sun, which drew on his childhood detention in a Japanese prison camp in China, died Sunday, his agent said. He was 78."
• No-Drama Obama China Policy [JLM Pacific Epoch] There is no split in the Obama administration when it comes to China policy. Non-naïve, non-ideological, clear-eyed and serious engagement is where this relationship is headed. It looks like Obama will be coming to China after the APEC meetings in November. Look for the White House to use its star-power to reach out directly to the Chinese people.
• Porsche Introduces a Luxury Sedan to the Chinese Market [NY Times] "Company executives said that the car would start at $89,800 in the United States and more, sometimes much more, in countries with higher taxes. The turbo version with a V-8 engine will cost 2.5 million yuan, or $366,000, in China, which has stiff import taxes and heavy taxes on family vehicles with large engines."

• China: “Destroy Japanese Anime!” [Sankaku Complex] "A recent comment by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao decrying the lack of Chinese anime has incited a flurry of online support, with Chinese net users vigorously denouncing Japanese anime."
• Chinese Hunger for Sons Fuels Boys’ Abductions [NYTimes] "These and thousands of other children stolen from the teeming industrial hubs of China’s Pearl River Delta have never been recovered by their parents or by the police. But anecdotal evidence suggests the children do not travel far. Although some are sold to buyers in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, most of the boys are purchased domestically by families desperate for a male heir, parents of abducted children and some law enforcement officials who have investigated the matter say."
• Bill Schiller on one man's quest [TheStar.com] "In China, noted designer and blogger Ai Wei Wei is on something of a lonely quest for justice. The Star's Bill Schiller explains, via Skype, from Beijing."

In this latest video from Sexy Beijing (h/t to Danwei), Ai Weiwei, the Chinese architect who designed the Bird's Nest stadium gives his thoughts on Beijing's architectural development over the years and impresses us with his self-deprecatory candour. This was the same man that last week provided much fodder for international media with his declaration that he would not be attending the opening ceremony of the Olympics — a decision he explains in this commentary written for The Guardian.

The contrarian and sometimes controversial Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未), who was a consultant in the design of the new Olympics stadium (known as the "Bird's Nest"), has disavowed his creation:

With just 412 days to the Beijing Olympics, work continues to be underway at the Beijing National Stadium, which was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron, in collaboration with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group, and contemporary Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, as the Artistic Consultant for design. Also affectionately known to the Chinese as the bird's nest, the stadium comes at a cost of 3.5 billion yuan (422,873,850 USD).

to embroil a listed company this year.

Since it first opened last fall, the Museum of Contemporary Art in People's Park has put on some flashy exhibitions and is known more (in Shanghaiist's opinion) for their trendy parties than thought provoking art. Saturday's launch party for the China addition to Nokia's Connect to Art was no exception. Connect to Art is Nokia's ongoing project that allows contemporary artwork to be downloaded on to your phone, making art more accessible to a larger part of the public. Although the Chinese Connect to Art project includes five of the best contemporary Chinese artists (Yang Fudong, Zhang Peili, Feng Mengbo, Ai Weiwei and Xu Bing) the party ended up being another fashionable, bass thumping mess. The main attraction was not the artists but a group of Italian "sound artists" mixing beats on MoCA's deck while blinding the audience with flashing headlights. The five artists' works were shown on small screens against one wall but the beautiful people were more interested in the free alcohol than the artwork.

We just came across an interesting New York Times article about art, design and architecture in China. Much of it deals with the work of Ai Weiwei, an artist and designer (and son of famed poet Ai Qing), who has created a number of interesting living spaces, such as loft complexes, where the living space is near to or combined with gallery space: