Long Hair debates Lawyer Lawrence “F-bomb dropping” Ma Yan-kwok (馬恩國) in LegCo

After watch this f-bomb ladened debate in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Some people may have a point in thinking Lawrence “F-bomb dropping” Ma Yan-kwok (馬恩國) may have single-handedly raised Leung Kwok-hung’s (長毛 Long Hair) approval ratings! Have a watch of this LegCo video recording of the heated exchange and decide for yourself.

長毛舌戰山西政協民建聯澳洲大律師馬恩國,大律師公然立法會講粗口!

Feel free to check out my first documentary Long Hair Revolution (長毛革命) which I’ve finally got it fixed and viewable on YouTube some weeks ago. Enjoy. For more info about Long Hair Revolution (長毛革命), read it here.

Kempton & Wallace talk Little Emperors: Behavioral Impacts of China’s One-Child Policy

The news report “One-child policy: China’s army of little emperors – The one-child policy has fundamentally changed the psychology of a generation” intrigued Economic Analyst +Wallace Chan  & this independent reporter. So night, we held a LIVE YouTube chat about the research paper “Little Emperors” and China’s One-Child Policy in two languages. Here are the recordings.

(In English) Kempton & Wallace talk Little Emperors: Behavioral Impacts of China’s One-Child Policy 

(in Cantonese) 經濟分析師陳心田與獨立記者林錦堂講一講 – 小皇帝：中國的”一家一孩”政策對行為的影響

Ref: (1) “Little Emperors: Behavioral Impacts of China’s One-Child Policy” by L. Cameron, N. Erkal, L. Gangadharan, X. Meng

(2) ”沒有兄弟姐妹的社會” by 張五常 (Steven Cheung)

Jan 26, 2013 Update: Here is a new Jan 2013 video clip of “Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase on China’s One-Child Policy“. For more (including link to transcripts) see this article.

Magazine profiles by Leila Chan, independent reporter

I love all sorts of biography, auto-biography, magazine profiles, and I will sometimes arrange and conduct phone and video interviews. I recently got hooked on Leila Chan’s magazine profiles (in Chinese). Allow me to recommend a few of them to you if you can read Chinese.

* “周榕榕 人生是自己的“

“[周榕榕] 選擇新聞系，媽媽沒有反對，能夠進到大學已經好好；工作才一年便辭職，媽媽也沒說什麼，女兒一向都喜歡旅行；可是旅行回來，還不上班，一年兩年過去，媽媽終於忍不住。

那一天，母女對峙。”

* “葉劉淑儀 母女如兄弟“

“「我媽媽很重視健康，好守規矩，那些好難食的穀物早餐，呢，好似樹枝那種，我見到都想嘔！但她日日吃，並且定時吃飯、吃好多生果蔬菜、做運動。媽媽常說：『健康一點，可以陪多你幾年。』我爸爸是六十幾歲時死的，媽媽現在六十二歲了，所以立法會大樓有細菌，真的好可怕。」榮欣坦言，不能想像沒有了媽媽。 “

* “楊崢 雲吞原來可以買現成？“

“[楊崢]要訪問擁有米芝蓮餐廳的名廚，很難；要名廚親自示範菜式，更難，並且要求又快又容易——怎樣的名廚才會答應？楊崢已經不計成本，飛了十多個城市，仍然不斷吃閉門羹。

「放飛機」最利害的一位，是一位美國的名廚，本來透過另一位名廚約好了，但去到紐約他的餐廳，公關說他正好出書，去了全國辦簽名會。楊崢跟著公關指示飛去加州，沒能見面，唯有自己開車去名廚在纳帕谷的另一間餐廳。”

* “周國豐 童年惡夢“

“「家裡都是媽媽做飯，我和爸爸都喜歡吃肉，媽媽便拼命煮一大堆，像是要把我們養到肥肥白白。」

Why the Chinese government can always win in court? The “tax case” of Ai Weiwei @aiww 艾未未

Q: Why the Chinese government can always win in court?

A: The Chinese government can always lock up or magically make your lawyer “unreachable”. In addition, they can send police to block you from attending your own court hearing. And as if these are not enough, the judges will always follow the wishes of the central government to ensure prompt victory by the governments.

Guardian June 20, 2012, ”Ai Weiwei barred from court hearing by Chinese police – Dissident artist says police warned him to stay away from court hearing on company’s lawsuit against Beijing tax authorities“

CNN June 20, 2012, “China dissident Ai Weiwei harassed by police, he says“

Guardian June 20, 2012, “Ai Weiwei’s lawyer missing as artist is warned away from tax hearing – Chinese dissident being told not to attend court as it considers his challenge to a fine for alleged unpaid taxes“

Bloomberg June 19, 2012, “Dissident Artist Ai Weiwei Says Police Block Him From Court“

Reuters, June 20, 2012 “Chinese police warn Ai Weiwei to avoid tax hearing“

***

Update: I am thrilled that Ai Weiwei retweeted this post and I am ready to see Chinese spambots starting to flood my Twitter stream now!  At the same time, I asked & replied with a serious and fundamental questions/concerns for foreigners and foreign businesses “@aiww Sad u can’t attend your tax case in court + they “disappear” your lawyer. How can foreigners or int. businesses trust Chinese courts?“

陳心田 與 林錦堂 講一講 “工會罷工/談判權” – Wallace and Kempton discuss union right to strike/bargaining rights (Cantonese On Air LIVE broadcast)

Last time Wallace and I talked about the Facebook “investment” before the super hyped IPO. Unfortunately, we were 100% right. What we discussed (the nature of Facebook, what is “investing”, etc) were backed by what we now have seen. And many many people actually lost billions on paper! You can watch our pilot episode here: “林錦堂與陳心田講一講 Facebook “投資”“.)

This time, Wallace and I talked about union’s right to strike/bargaining rights (Air Canada, CP rail). You can watch it here: 陳心田 與 林錦堂 講一講 “工會罷工”. We hope you enjoy our show!

Upside Down East meets West 人鬼講東講西 教飛試一集 Doctor Who Test Episode

We (Kempton +  Anthony) tried to launch a LIVE Cantonese show today (人鬼講東講西 Upside Down East meets West) but ran into some technical difficulties (#fail). We ended up recording a test episode about the famous and long running BBC Sci-Fi show Doctor Who (50th anniversary). Here is the cross-posted Chinese text and Cantonese video. Enjoy.

***

人鬼講東講西 教飛試一集 – Doctor Who 主持人: 林錦堂 (G+ Kempton Lam) + 安東尼 (Anthony Kelly) 教飛試一試用粵語講BBC長壽節目Doctor Who。請欣賞。

Note: 人鬼講東講西 is a working title and may change. The English working title is “Upside Down East meets West“.

P.S. This test show was meant to be broadcast LIVE but our first LIVE show had to be postpond for later due to Google+ error right at the moment we tried to broadcast, “Failed to initialize the broadcasting service. Please try again in 15 minutes.“

Will Twitter’s 500 Millionth User be a Chinese gov spam bot? Thanks to Ai Weiwei @aiww @AWWNeverSorry

According to some projection, Twitter will have its 500 millionth user today (Wed Feb 22, 2012 at about 3pm EST). I seriously wonder if  that “user” will be a Chinese political spam bot?

You see, I sometimes tweet about the Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei @aiww or talk about the documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry  @AWWNeverSorry. In the last 4 days alone, there were 15 brand new Chinese gov spam bots spamming me! The Chinese government wants to give the impression that lots of different people support its views.

Based on my experiences, the Chinese government and its agents have created many many Twitter spam bots, each only send out only about 120 or so personal @ message tweets to different people at the same time and then simply discard these accounts and left them unused! Try tweeting about Ai Weiwei @aiww  and be spammed by the famous Chinese government spam bot yourself!

So thanks to brave opposition voices from people like Ai Weiwei, will the Chinese government and other spam bots creators be creating Twitter’s Six Millionth or even One Billionth user?

Note: I am not sure if these bots are fully automated or partially run by hired Chinese, also known as the 50 Cent Army/Party (in simplified Chinese: 五毛党; traditional Chinese: 五毛黨).

Also, I want to be clear that Weiwei is NOT the only target of these spam bots, I got spammed by them because I tweeted about Weiwei. Other people got spammed for tweeting about other people the Chinese government happen to disagree with.

Here are six of the 15 Chinese gov spam bot accounts (all different) that spammed me in the last 4 days! Click pix to zoom it. The first image is the collection of many of the spam messages on one page.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei gets 21,000+ microloans totalling 5.9m yuan so far to pay his 15m yuan tax bill

For the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, it is not about the money, it is a chance to let the Chinese public to voice their support of him and disapproval of Chinese government unjust accusation/judgement. Read along to find out what these two donations signify:

512 yuan, about $80

89.64 yuan, or about $14

Washington Post, “Ai Weiwei fans raise funds to pay his massive tax bill“

“In a strong affront to the Chinese government’s attempt to censor artists and internet users, fans of the artist Ai Weiwei have raised more than $830,000 in three days through social media to help the artist fight a $2.4 million tax bill from the state.”

BBC English, “Ai Weiwei China tax bill paid by supporters” (with English interview)

“By Monday, there had been donations totalling more than 5m yuan ($790,000; £490,000) to pay off the $2.4m in taxes and fines the authorities say he owes.

Many people believe he was served the bill because of his outspoken criticism of the government rather than because he had evaded taxes.

Chinese toddler Yueyue (悦悦) run over twice dies

To me, the sad story of Yueyue’s accident and her death exposes some of the serious and tragic underlining problems in China.

Chinese toddler run over twice dies – World – CBC News
Chinese toddler dies after hit-and-run ordeal | World news | The Guardian
China’s ‘Little Yueyue’ Dies Amid Soul-Searching – China Real Time Report – WSJ

Here is an Oct 19th article about Chen Xianmei, the “scrap peddler” lady that rescued Yueyue

Chinese toddler’s rescuer denies fame-seeking – World – CBC News

Dalai Lama with horns – Inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture – Dalai Lama & Desmond Tutu hang out on Google+

Inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture - Dalai Lama & Desmond Tutu hang out on Google+

The actual talk starts at about 25:30. What a great experience in watching +Dalai Lama and+Archbishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu : The world greatest, best, and most insightful comic duo LIVE early this morning (2:30am MST). :)

~41:41 Desmond: Do you have an army?

Dalai: Yes, I have army. Not weapon. But wisdom and compassion. [...]

~42:03 Desomond: I was asking this question only to find out, why does the Chinese government fear you?

~42:26 Dalai: Quite simple. Quite simple. Some Chinese officials describe me as a demon. So naturally some fear. … When I first heard that Chinese official comments. I feel laughing. So I immediately went yes, I have horns. 

P.S. Some time ago I saw a document about how after years of unsuccessfully trying to get rid of Ku Klux Klan, the ridiculous group of Klan men in white sheet over their heads was ridiculed and laughed out of existence. Yes, by making them the butt of jokes. I like that theory.

P.P.S. I spy Google+ Engineer +Loren Groves at about 24:38 Thanks Loren for all the great work. Few more photos in this Flickr Set.

3 Tips to use Google Translate wisely

I’ve translated three TV entertainment series, 72 episodes, about 130,000 words form English to Chinese (both spoken and written). Google Translate has ben useful in my work but using it blindly can be outright dangerous. I will share with you 12 tips of how to use Google Translate wiser.

1) Sanity checks

If you don’t know the language you are translating into (e.g. Chinese), you should use it with extreme cautious. Don’t let Google Translate make you look like a fool. At a minimum, use Google Translate to perform a sanity check on itself.

What is a “sanity check“? Well, if you want to translate English to Chinese (or any language you don’t know), at least use Google Translate to translate the text right back to you.

Real sample English text from CBC News, Sept 4, 2011 report “Tropical storm Lee sparks fresh flood warnings“,

“U.S. forecasters are warning a lumbering tropical storm Lee could bring floods and tornadoes to more south and central-eastern states as it moves northward Sunday after saturating the Gulf coastline.”

Translation from Google Translate to Chinese,

“美國預報員警告的伐木熱帶風暴可能帶來的洪水和李龍捲風更南部和中東部國家，因為它向北移動星期日飽和後海灣海岸線。”

Sanity check is using Google Translate to translate the above Chinese to English. You see I added emphasis for the potentially problematic areas.

“The U.S. forecasters warned the storm could bring tropical logging floods and tornadoes Lee in more southern and eastern countries, as it moved north after the Gulf coast on Sunday saturated.”

Observation: The Chinese translation is actually quite confusing, much more confusing that the sanity check is showing.

Here is a “work around” that is not a guarantee “solution” but better than nothing. Use short sentences. Change your English words so that the sanity check won’t give you garbage.

2) Pronunciation

I love Google Translate‘s Chinese pronunciation. It just sound great. I wonder how good is Google Translate‘s pronunciations in other languages? Please add comments to this post if you speak other languages fluently and can judge Google Translate‘s pronunciations as a native speakers of those languages.

3) Google Translate is NOT your magic bullet

To me, the purpose of language is to communicate so I try my best to avoid miscommunication. I started writing this post because I’ve noticed some Chinese Google+ users using Chinese in their comments to English posts.

I think those commenters may be assuming their non-Chinese readers can simply use Google Translate to help understand the meaning of their words. Take the following Sept 1st, 2011 comment in this post for example,

“睡不着，還能hangout，也算失之東隅 吧？”

Here is the English translation using Google Translate,

“Can not sleep, can hangout, also considered is neglected, right?”

People may be able to guess what the author means. But the words “also considered is neglected” are annoying because you can’t be sure exactly what the commenter really meant. You see, what the Chinese commenter means is roughly,

“Can’t sleep but I can still hangout, not bad right?”

The commenter used the words “失之東隅” which is a Chinese proverb. I don’t think I will use Chinese proverb if I were the commenter. You see, isn’t it the point of leaving a comment so that other people, including author of the post, can understand what you try to say?

4) Closing comments

To me, I see clear and clean communication as the reason for languages. I use and love Google Translate as a tool. But it is a tool, at its current capability as of Sep 2011, it is a still a very young, immature, and not that reliable tool. It cannot be trusted blindly.

One final sanity check example to remind us why Google Translate can’t and shouldn’t be trusted blindly using the first sentence of this article.

“I’ve translated three TV series, 72 episodes, about 130,000 words form English to Chinese (both spoken and written).”

Translation from Google Translate to Chinese,

“我翻譯的三個電視系列，72集，約 13萬字英文的形式向中國（包括口頭和書面）。”

Translation from Google Translate back to English,

“I translated three television series, 72 sets, about 13 million words in English in the form of the Chinese (including verbal and written).”

Do you notice one glaring problem? How did 130,000 words become 13 million words? The stupid thing is that “13萬” is actually 130,00, totally correct! But turning “13萬” into “13 million” is just total rubbish!

Central, Hong Kong Pretty Girls – courtesy of HK newspaper Apple B.B. Daily (a lesson about freedom of press)

*** Hong Kong Pretty Girls ***

I am a keen observer of pretty girls in HK and around the world. Unfortunately today, against my better judgement, I will argue the Hong Kong newspaper Apple B.B. Daily should voluntarily stop taking photos of some of these pretty girls (中環我至靚) in Central, Hong Kong. Yes, some of these photos taking and publishing has to be stopped!  Especially many of the photos that I love the most. Isn’t this paradoxical?

Lets look at some of the photos of the pretty girls in Central, Hong Kong as reported by Apple B. B. Daily. And see if you notice a very important pattern.

??? Have you noticed a pattern yet? Lets look at some more pictures.

If you read Chinese, you can see the full Flickr set which I also posted the original Apple Daily text that goes with the photos for added context.

*** Observations ***

As you may have noticed already, the pretty girls in only 3, yes three, out of the above 13 photos actually post for the photos! And as you can read from the Flickr set, only those 3 photos have people’s names attached.

As you see, the other photos are of people talking on the phones or walking on the street simply going about their businesses. I have no indication that these people actually has or has not given Apple B.B. Daily permission to publish their photos on a column dedicated to photos of pretty girls in Central, Hong Kong!

Is this ethical behaviour? How will you react if this is your newspaper? Or if this is practiced in your city/country?

And if you live in Hong Kong, what do you think about this?

*** The Freedom of Press Paradox ***

While I don’t know the specific Hong Kong law but I suspect what the photographers of Apple B.B. Daily have done here are safely within the boundary of Hong Kong law. And I bet a Canadian dollar that a Canadian newspaper can legally take and publish photos of pretty girls standing on a public street too (although I can’t be sure).

The brave men and women of Apple B.B. Daily are truly the pioneers of newspapers and poor-tastes. At the end of day, no one can blame them for their total pursuit of making money through sex and smut at the same time as speaking truth to the powerful Chinese Beijing and HK governments.

Yes, seriously, Apple B. B. Daily do fight for democracy at the same time as they insert B. B. (bouncy breasts) of ladies in bikinis into completely serious news article!

*** Concluding Thoughts ***

Hong Kong is a really vibrant and strange market for newspapers, for both paid and recently free newspapers. Apple B. B. Daily bossman Mr. Jimmy Lai is one of the most intriguing and interesting entrepreneurs in Asia unfortunately the way he runs his newspapers (or allowed his newspapers to be run) just make me sick.

English and Chinese Interview with Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人)

In English (英文)

The Alliance‘s Lee Cheuk-yan and Mak-hoi-wah visted Calgary yesterday (July 31, 2011) and I had a chance to interview Mr. Lee Cheuk-yan. The following are clips of my video interviews with him.

中文 (In Chinese)

支聯會的李卓人、麥海華昨天(2011,七月三十一日)訪問卡城，我有機會訪問李卓人先生。以下是訪問的短片。

My English video interview with Lee Cheuk-yan

My Chinese video interview Part 1 and Part 2.

Mr. Lee‘s bio in Chinese.

李卓人

“李卓人，現任香港立法會議員（新界西選區），亦是香港職工會聯盟秘書長及香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會主席。自1978年畢業於香港大學土木工程系後，開始投身工人運動，參與勞工組織的工作。首份工作為觀塘工業健康中心幹事，組織工人關注職業健康及安全問題。兩年後，轉往香港基督教工業委員會工作，負責組織工傷者及家屬，成立香港工業傷亡權益會。其後，李卓人開始組織獨立工會，創立成衣業職工總會並擔任總幹事。1990年成衣業職工總會與其他獨立工會共同創立香港職工會聯盟，成立時共有25個屬會。李卓人轉擔任職工盟總幹事，推動獨立工會運動，走在爭取勞工權益及民主的最前線。

作為工運人士，李卓人在80年代初開始參與香港民主運動，並在1989年與其他民間團體一起成立香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會，被選常委，至2003年開始擔任副主席，並在創會主席司徒華先生離世後接任主席。

1995年，李卓人代表香港職工會聯盟參加立法局選舉並當選。除1998年臨時立法會一年外，李卓人一直透過新界西直選當選立法會議員至今。“

Yoyo Sham 岑寧兒 and Charatay 格勒底

I am slow and just discovered the cool sound of Yoyo Sham 岑寧兒 (Facebook) (her website) and her accapella group Charatay (格勒底, the six members are 岑寧兒、陳詠謙、張傑邦、梁仰詩、洪豐盈、袁慧妍) (Facebook). You can find out more about her music by joining her Facebook group and check out Charatay. [HT Eva]

At the moment, I love her best in her part of 三人行 – 重編新唱版本.

Here are some other songs to check out from a quick YouTube search of her name Yoyo Sham 岑寧兒 and also from the Charatay Bong’s YouTube channel.

Hill Cheung 10 Years (re-edit ) (May 2010)

Virtual Prisoner’s Life in Freedom City, China

From CNN, “Chinese activist Hu promises parents he will be ‘careful’ in future“

“In a phone call to CNN affiliate iCable News in Hong Kong on Sunday, Hu [Jia] said his parents had asked him to not clash with the system.

“Once I saw my family, I understood how much I owe them, especially my parents, my wife and my kid. I realize I’ve done nothing for them. There is a Chinese saying that ‘patriotism and filial piety don’t go hand in hand,’” he said in the phone call.

“They told me to be a good citizen and don’t clash with the system. This system is very brutal. It uses government’s power to violate people’s dignity. I can only tell my parents, I will be careful.”

[...] “Hu Jia told me that he won’t change, and police told him they may put him under house arrest in that case,” she said. “I’m prepared for it.”

“As long as there’s no democracy or the rule of law in China, our situation won’t change at all.”

Last year’s Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, also a rights activist, was convicted of the same crime as Hu. Liu is still serving an 11-year jail term.”

我的名字叫鄺嘉豪、陳詠妍 – ‪蘋果延伸‬ “‪你死你事‬”、”仗義欺寧弱小”‪精神

我曾經考慮用以下兩個題目其中之一，但最後選擇了”我的名字叫鄺嘉豪、陳詠妍”。

“‪蘋果日報法庭‬記者，英勇拍攝口交男女生法庭外逃跑情況，捍衛凌駕於三權之上的‪蘋果公審‬/羞恥‪權‬‬。延伸‪蘋果‬ “‪你死你事‬”、”仗義欺寧弱小”‪精神‬”

“蘋果‪法庭‬編輯/記者 捍衛”‪你死你事‬”精神 公審口交男女生”

讀/看完4月9日蘋果法庭”男女生照口交“新聞及互動片段(見下)之後，心中悲痛。早前我在““自殺獲救”娛樂化: 新聞自由=你死你事?”一文中我問，

“蘋果日報/蘋動新聞的記者和編輯們：能夠令新聞中人直接/間接受到傷害的私人資訊，可以不須保護地完全披露嗎？”新聞自由”真的是令你做事不須小心思考的”免責金牌”嗎？”新聞自由”真的等同”你死你事”嗎？新聞道德真的是可有可無嗎？”

報告法庭新聞本應非常重要，但一件簡單法院案件有須要窮追當事人嗎？真的有須要仗勢(報館的鏡頭)欺寧弱小，拍攝案中男女在法庭外逃跑，避開鏡頭的情況嗎？有須要將案件動畫化，加上抵死對白及攪笑音樂，將一件控方同意撤銷控罪，改以簽保守行為方式處理，裁判官頒令兩人自簽 1,000元，守行為 12個月的案件，放大萬倍嗎？有考慮到法庭已經給了他們法制下應得的懲罰嗎？‪我想知道，蘋果從‬何時開始得到‪凌駕於三權‬(行政，立法，司法)‪之上的蘋果公審/羞恥權？‬

蘋果真的有須要令當事人受到長期什至永久的傷害嗎？人年輕犯的錯，真的要令他們永成笑柄嗎？香港新聞從業現在是否只須要向上司及銷售數字付責，而完全不須考慮自己應有的新聞道德標準嗎？

更令我傷痛的是網民以”報紙出名”為理由，強調叫討論區管理員”勿ban”。可見傳媒對網民的影響力。

P.S. 與‪蘋果日報相比，明報專訊(見下)的報導，因為沒有的互動片段，則比較溫和。另見東方報導。

繁忙時間　港鐵銅鑼灣站梯間 警巡過　男女生照口交 – 2011年04月09日
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【本報訊】人流如鯽的港鐵銅鑼灣站，一對年輕男女學生，公然於傍晚時分在樓梯間卿卿我我。有巡警覺得可疑曾上前查問，惟二人待巡警走後，留在原位，就地口交。巡警透過廣角鏡窺探，發現二人淫行，現身拘捕時，男生露出勃起的陽具。涉案學生本被控有違公德罪開審，昨在東區裁判法院獲准簽保守行為，不留案底。　記者：楊家樂

事發今年 2月 6日年初四晚上 6時半， 19歲女學生陳詠妍及 22歲男學生鄺嘉豪，處身港鐵銅鑼灣站內連接月台及車站大堂的 B4號樓梯。當時陳女坐在地上，上半身倚靠在男方的小腿位置。一名隸屬鐵路警區的警員巡經該處，見狀上前查問兩人是否不適，他們否認。
巡警懷疑他們有違法勾當，遂假裝離去，步向上層樓梯轉角位，透過牆上廣角鏡繼續監視。只見兩人維持相同姿勢 4至 5分鐘，巡警遂靠近觀察，赫然發現陳女將頭埋在男方兩條大腿之間，頭部上下左右移動。
巡警見狀，走到兩人背後，叫陳女站起，陳女照做，此時巡警看見鄺的褲子拉鏈全開，勃起的陽具展現眼前。巡警立即拘捕兩人，警誡下，陳女承認犯案出於一時衝動，鄺則指陳女自願替他口交。

Ai Weiwei detained. Here is his TED film

Ai Weiwei detained. Here is his TED film.

Where is Ai Weiwei? 尋人啓事：艾未未

* New Yorker, “AI WEIWEI: THE OFFICIAL VIEW”

* CNN, “Where is Ai Weiwei”

* Bloomberg, “Arrest of Artist Ai Weiwei Prompts Germany to Summon Chinese Ambassador”

* Bloomberg, “Ai Weiwei Probed for ‘Economic Crimes’ by China as Global Backlash Mounts”

* Guardian, “Ai Weiwei is investigated by Chinese police for ‘economic crimes’”

* BBC, “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei held for ‘economic crimes’”

* Slate, “Has China Decided to Declare Ai Weiwei a Criminal?”

* 趙連海：以死抗爭 (with video)

****

April 8th update:

* Vancouver Sun, “The smell of jasmine strikes fear in China’s leadership – Seasoned watchers say this is the most intense drive against dissent by the authorities over the past 15 years“

* CNN News with video, “Chinese artist Ai Weiwei: Economic criminal?“

* CNN, “Ai arrest highlights China’s crackdown“

* The Huffington Post, “Free Ai Weiwei“

* Guardian, “Ai Weiwei detention nothing to do with freedom of expression, says China – Foreign ministry removes all references to detained artist from official transcript of news conference and claims he is being investigated for economic crimes“

“The Chinese government has removed references to Ai Weiwei from its official transcript of a news conference. Ten of the 18 questions at the briefing on Thursday concerned the prominent activist, who was detained on Sunday at Beijing airport. All were omitted from the transcript posted on Friday on the foreign ministry’s website.

A spokesman for the department, Hong Lei, said Ai was being investigated for economic crimes, but gave no details. He added that the inquiry had nothing to do with freedom of expression, although the artist has often been targeted by the government. “China is a country under the rule of law, and relevant authorities will work according to law,” he said.”

****

April 7 update:

* The Guardian, “Ai Weiwei’s family denounce ‘absurd’ economic crimes investigation”

* The Telegraph, “Ai Weiwei’s family speak out against investigation”

“Lu Qing, Mr Ai’s wife, said that while no one had expected the arrest, Mr Ai had a “bad feeling” in the week preceding the arrest, especially after multiple visits by the police to the family home. She said a further 40 to 50 policemen had combed the house since last Sunday, taking away computers and money.

“I never expected things would get this bad,” she said. “I have been on the phone to the authorities non-stop since Sunday and no one has been able to say a single word about what is going on,” she added.

“Ai has high blood pressure and diabetes. I’m seriously concerned for his health, and about whether anyone is giving him his medicine. His mother has also been very unstable these last few days, and she also has high blood pressure,” she said.

Mr Ai, whose 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds are currently filling the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern gallery in London, is thought to earn a substantial living from his art. Next month, an installation by Mr Ai will be mounted outside the Plaza hotel in New York, before then travelling to Somerset House in London.

In the past, the Chinese authorities have pursued government critics like Mr Ai for alleged tax violations or other non-political crimes.”

* ABC News, “Potential 2012 Presidential Contender Amb. Jon Huntsman Criticizes China’s Human Rights Record In ‘Farewell’ Speech”

United States Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman delivered a “farewell” speech in Shanghai on Wednesday and he “commended Liu, Ai and others like them who “challenge the Chinese government to serve the public in all cases and at all times.”

“By speaking out candidly,” he noted, “we hope eventually to narrow and bridge this critical gap and move our relationship forward.””

* BBC News, Profile: Ai Weiwei

* Wall Street Journal blog, “Huntsman Suggests Change Needed in Beijing, Not Washington”

* The Diplomat, “Ai Weiwei and ‘Economic Crimes’”

* Remarks by Ambassador Jon M. Huntsman Jr.at the Barnett-Oksenberg Lecture

Who is Afraid of Ai Weiwei? Lessons for Canadians #elxn41

April 3, 2011: Ai Weiwei detained by Chinese gov.

Guardian, “The 53-year-old [Ai Weiwei] remains uncontactable more than 12 hours after officials held him at the capital’s airport. [...] His detention comes amid what human rights campaigners have described as the harshest crackdown on activists and dissidents in over a decade.“

The Telegraph, “Ai Weiwei stopped from leaving China“

The New Yorker by Evan Osnos, “Ai Weiwei Detained” – Highly recommended article.

Have a watch of the full PBS Frontline documentary: “Who is Afraid of Ai Weiwei?“

“All of a sudden, these people who’b been standing on the sidewalk, milling around doing things, turned out to be people who had come to have dinner with him [Ai Weiwei]. And everybody there knew that, by simply eating dinner there, it was an act of defiance.”

P.S. When I saw Ai Weiwei willing to risk his life in ”Who is Afraid of Ai Weiwei?” in order to fight for a better China, I am ashamed of the low voters’ turnout in Canada. It pains me to see my fellow Canadians, young Canadians, adult Canadians, born with the rights to vote easily giving up their rights/privilege to vote and ignoring their duty to vote in elections.

Happy Chinese New Year of Rabbit !

Wishing you all a healthy & prosperous year of Rabbit !

祝大家 身體健康 心想事成 新年快樂 如意吉祥 !

P.S. Some pictures of Chinese new year celebrations from around the world.