N.Y. Times: Dissident Artist in China is Held as Crackdown Spreads

Dissident Artist in China is Held as Crackdown Spreads

Shiho Fukada for The New York Times, Ai Weiwei in his Beijing studio on March 7.
By ANDREW JACOBS Published: April 3, 2011

BEIJING — Chinese authorities on Sunday detained Ai Weiwei, one of the country’s most high-profile artists and a stubborn government critic, as he tried to board a plane for Hong Kong, his friends and associates said. Mr. Ai’s wife, nephew and a number of his employees were also taken into custody during a raid on his studio on the outskirts of the capital.