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Research status: Verified baseline profile; research and archive-copy acquisition continue.

Languages: EN · 中文 · FR · DE · ES

Verified profile

Ai Weiwei is an internationally known artist and outspoken critic of political repression and censorship. In 2011 he was detained incommunicado after being stopped at Beijing airport. Contemporary and near-contemporary reporting documents the detention, searches of his studio, later questioning and international concern.

Media archive baseline

  • The Guardian, April 3, 2011: contemporaneous detention and studio-search report.
  • The Guardian / Reuters-source account, August 10, 2011: later account of questioning and detention conditions; Reuters sourcing remains attributed.
  • The Guardian, April 5, 2011: international reaction to the detention.

Selected sources

The Guardian — detention report
The Guardian — later questioning account
The Guardian — international concern

Research still pending

Chinese-language media, tax-case primary records, censorship and freedom-of-expression chronology, broader art/media history and durable source copies.

Archive-control note: Online availability is not the same as a Drive archive copy.

Last research audit: September 1, 2026.

Research status: Verified baseline profile; research and archive-copy acquisition continue. Languages: EN · 中文 · FR · DE · ES Verified profile Ai Weiwei is an internationally known artist and outspoken critic of political repression and censorship. In 2011 he was detained incommunicado after being stopped at Beijing airport. Contemporary and near-contemporary reporting documents the detention, searches of his studio,…