Communist China has always been paranoid. Since the Middle East/Africa uprisings, they’ve become even more paranoid.
One of China’s most famous contemporary artists has been missing for more than a day after he was blocked from leaving the country and police raided his home, his wife said Monday.
The disappearance of artist Ai Weiwei comes as China carries out a massive crackdown on lawyers, writers and activists, arresting and detaining dozens since online calls for protests similar to those in the Middle East and North Africa began to circulate in February. No public protests have emerged.
Ai, an outspoken government critic, has been keeping an informal tally of those detentions on Twitter, where he has more than 70,000 followers. Ai, who has been barred from going abroad before, was stopped while preparing to board a flight to Hong Kong on Sunday. Police later raided his Beijing home and studio.
