The Chinese artist behind Beijing's spectacular new Olympic stadium has said he wants nothing to do with the propaganda for which it will be used during next year's games.
In an attack on the "disgusting" political conditions in the one-party state, Ai Weiwei (
"I would rather be disconnected or forgotten," said Ai, one of China's most prominent figures in the arts.
He conceived the stadium's steel-lattice design -- nicknamed the bird's nest -- with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron.
"I hate the kind of feeling stirred up by promotion or propaganda ... It's the kind of sentiment when you don't stick to the facts, but try to make up something, to mislead people away from a true discussion. It is not good for anyone."
He accused those choreographing the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 next year -- including filmmakers Steven Spielberg and Zhang Yimou (
"All the shitty directors in the world are involved. It's disgusting," Ai said. "I don't like anyone who shamelessly abuses their profession, who makes no moral judgment. It is mindless."
Recently, a Spielberg spokesman hinted the director might relinquish his Olympic role unless China dropped its opposition at the UN to an increased Darfur peacekeeping force; four days later, a deal on the force was announced in New York.
Although Ai's work, too, will be used as the stage for the Olympics' opening ceremony, he has no regrets.
"The joy of design is already there. The rest is rubbish," he said. "I was not hired by the state but by a design team in Switzerland. No one in the state here would ever hire me for a project like this."
With a family history of persecution by the communist government, Ai's involvement with the Olympic project raised eyebrows from the start. The artist spent much of his childhood in remote Xinjiang after his father, Ai Qing (
Such persecution, along with political murders, corruption and rampant land theft, remain taboo subjects in China. Ai is one of only a few prominent people living in Beijing to speak out.
"I very openly criticize the tendency to use culture for the purpose of propaganda, to dismiss the true function of art and the intellect," he said.
Ai's contemporary, Zhang -- whose family also had troubled times under the communists -- has been criticized at various points in his career by both the authorities and their opponents.
As for Spielberg, when he announced in April last year that he had been hired as a consultant on the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics, he said his overriding goal was "to give the world a taste of peace, friendship and understanding."
In recent months he has elaborated on his motives, after being criticized in the US for his involvement with Beijing when the government there stands accused of aiding Sudan's regime, despite the latter's promoting a genocide in Darfur.
In May, Spielberg set out his moral position on that issue when he published the text of a private letter he had sent to Chinese President Hu Jintao (
"I believe there is no greater crime against humanity than genocide. I feel strongly that every member of the world community has a moral and ethical responsibility to act to prevent such crimes," he said.
Spielberg said he hoped all sovereign nations "will work creatively to coexist with great peace and lasting prosperity and that they will treat their citizens with dignity and respect."
Ai dismissed concerns about repercussions from expressing his views.
"It is not opposition to the state, but rather in fighting for individualism and freedom of expression, freedom of human rights and justice ... If you read newspapers today you see the problems created by this structure and by the effort to maintain power. It is against everything that human society should be fighting for," he said.
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Former minister of culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) has long wielded influence through the power of words. Her articles once served as a moral compass for a society in transition. However, as her April 1 guest article in the New York Times, “The Clock Is Ticking for Taiwan,” makes all too clear, even celebrated prose can mislead when romanticism clouds political judgement. Lung crafts a narrative that is less an analysis of Taiwan’s geopolitical reality than an exercise in wistful nostalgia. As political scientists and international relations academics, we believe it is crucial to correct the misconceptions embedded in her article,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which