China's Ai Weiwei: an artist with politics on his mind

Ai Weiwei, one of China's most controversial artists, may be the son of a poet who was a cultural icon for a new communist China 60 years ago -- but he has nothing but scorn for those in power today.

"It's so surprising to see that after 60 years in power the communists have not improved their propaganda machine," Ai told AFP in an interview at his home in Caochangdi, an artists' colony in the northeast of the capital.

"They're just so terrible, and they carry on as before, but all they have done is to distance themselves even more from the people and how they think and feel."

The 52-year-old Beijing native moved into a quiet courtyard house with a garden here nine years ago. Today, his home-studio compound is bustling with activity, as dozens of young men and women toil behind computer screens.

In his battle against government propaganda, now in full swing ahead of huge celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on October 1, Ai has deployed his best weapons: art and the Internet.

In addition to opening his first solo exhibition in Beijing this month, Ai has a widely popular -- but often censored -- blog, on which he writes political commentaries, publishes photos and broadcasts his films.

"In 60 years, all the authorities have succeeded in doing is to destroy their own ideology," said Ai, a large man with a round face and a salt-and-pepper beard, dressed in blue work clothes.

"Before coming to power, they spoke about democracy, the end of one-party (Nationalist) rule and the need for freedom of expression.

"They used that platform to gain power. Now, if you talk about these same ideas, you are a criminal and thrown in jail."

His father, Ai Qing, was a member of the Communist party and became one of the cultural celebrities of the newly created PRC in 1949. Eight years later, he was denounced and sent to a labour camp.

Later rehabilitated, he is again revered today.

Ai himself first came to prominence in the late 1970s as a member of an avant garde group of artists known as "The Stars". He then moved to the United States, where he lived for more than a decade before coming home in the 1990s.

Today, he is a target of both censorship and careful police scrutiny.

Ai leads a group of volunteers investigating the collapse of schoolhouses in the massive May 2008 earthquake in southwestern Sichuan province that left more than 87,000 people dead or missing.

Schools bore the brunt of the quake, with thousands collapsing on top of students, fuelling angry charges from parents that corruption had led to shoddy construction.

Last month, police prevented Ai from testifying at the trial in the Sichuan provincial capital Chengdu of a fellow quake activist, Tan Zuoren, who was charged with "inciting subversion of state power".

"Police officers struck me and detained me for 11 hours so that I could not attend the trial," he told AFP.

"It's unbelievable -- the state violates its own laws and tries to cover that up however it can. Only old gangsters can get away with that."

Ai's public profile is very different from his private persona. In the Chinese media, only his mainstream projects -- like his work helping to design the Bird's Nest stadium for last year's Beijing Olympics -- are mentioned.

His new exhibition in a private gallery in Beijing's trendy 798 art district features only a few pieces -- one is a map of the world made of thousands of layers of cotton, symbolising China's position as the "workshop for the world".

"The government-run places don't want to show my work. I'm not interested anyway, as they are always subject to censorship rules," he said.

In October, he will open a much bigger show in Munich, entitled "So Sorry". This week, he underwent surgery there to relieve pressure on his brain from a blood clot, which Ai says is a result of the police beating in Chengdu.

He described his latest effort as "complicated and huge", exploring a variety of themes, from Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to modern China and the Sichuan earthquake.

So far, Ai has avoided prison, though others in China have been jailed for similar provocations. He says he is fully aware he could fall foul of the authorities at any time.

"I am afraid, but I am more afraid that if I do not speak out, then I'll have no more chance to be afraid any more. It can happen to me any time," he said.