{"id":49759,"date":"2015-10-04T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T22:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/127.0.0.1:10081\/?p=49759 "},"modified":"2015-10-04T22:56:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T22:56:00","slug":"49759-revision-v1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/minzhuzhongguo.org\/?p=49759","title":{"rendered":"Ai Weiwei finds \\’listening devices\\’ hidden in Beijing studio"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dissident artist posts images of suspected bugs on Instagram after returning to China following first overseas trip in four years<\/div>
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 Ai Weiwei during his visit to London. Photograph: Guy Bell\/Rex <\/div>
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Sunday 4 October 2015 06.45 EDT Last modified on Sunday 4 October 2015 19.01 EDT<\/div>
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Dissident artist Ai Weiwei has returned to China after his first overseas trip in four years and discovered what appear to be listening devices hidden in his studio.<\/div>
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In a series of Instagram and Twitter posts on Sunday, the pop artist and free-speech activist shared pictures and video of at least one device he said he found behind an electrical socket.<\/div>
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 Artist Ai Weiwei has uncovered what appears to be hidden surveillance equipment while renovating his studio in Beijing. Photograph: Ai Weiwei<\/div>
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“There’s always a surprise,” the text accompanying one of the Instagram posts reads.<\/div>
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In a video posted on Instagram, someone sets off firecrackers in a bin next to the device. The accompanying text reads: “Can you hear this?”<\/div>
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“I’ve found a bunch of ‘bedbugs’,” the artist told Liu Xiaoyuan, a human rights lawyer and friend on Twitter.<\/div>
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Ai has confirmed discovering what he thought were listening devices when he returned to Beijing.<\/div>
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Liu tweeted that the devices were discovered when the studio was being renovated and suggested that they may have been placed there four years ago.<\/div>
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At approximately that time Ai was detained without charge for 81 days by Chinese authorities but never charged or convicted of a crime.<\/div>
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When officials returned his passport to him in July – ending a four-year travel ban – the artist told the Guardian he did not fear that he would be forced into exile if he left the country.<\/div>
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“I’ve never worried about that. I think if the authorities let me go I’m sure they will let me back. They have been quite reasonable,” he said at the time.<\/div>
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The artist has come under fire from human rights campaigners in China after he appeared to soften his stance towards the Chinese authorities in interviews with German media .<\/div>
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Ai has long made a habit of turning Chinese authorities’ surveillance of him into art. When surveillance cameras were installed outside his studio, the artist hung lanterns from them.<\/div>
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 Equipment found in the artist’s studio. Photograph: Ai Weiwei<\/div>
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In 2012, on the first anniversary of his arrest at Beijing airport, Ai installed web cameras at his home and broadcast a 24-hour live feed of himself.<\/div>
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Earlier this year, the artist partnered with Jacob Appelbaum – a WikiLeaks collaborator, Edward Snowden confidant and co-creator of the anonymous web browser Tor – to make “Panda to Panda”, an artwork consisting of toy pandas that have been stuffed with shredded Snowden documents and SD cards.<\/div>
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Additional reporting Amber Ziye Wang<\/div>
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For detail please visit here<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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