China: Artist Ai Weiwei Detained

One of China's best-known artists, Ai Weiwei, was detained in Beijing on Sunday at the capital's airport, as police searched his studio, confiscated computers and questioned assistants.

Ai, who designed the Olympic Bird's Nest stadium and created the Sunflower Seeds installation for the Tate Modern in London, has been an outspoken critic of the government.

At least 23 people have been criminally detained, mostly for incitement to subversion or creating a disturbance, in recent weeks. Three more have been formally arrested and more than a dozen are missing, including high profile human rights lawyers.

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China and Blogging: Breaching the Great Firewall? (The Economist)

China’s military mouthpiece, the Liberation Army Daily, is not a fan of microblogging. On October 19th it said Twitter had caused chaos during Iran’s political turmoil last year, and gave warning that such instant information-sharing tools posed “hidden dangers” to national security. Having blocked access to Twitter, however, China is encouraging home-grown versions. Both the government and its critics have become avid users.

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