{"id":5721,"date":"2015-10-05T23:03:20","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T03:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=5721"},"modified":"2015-10-04T23:05:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T03:05:48","slug":"ai-weiwei-finds-listening-devices-hidden-in-beijing-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/ai-weiwei-finds-listening-devices-hidden-in-beijing-studio","title":{"rendered":"Ai Weiwei finds ‘listening devices’ hidden in Beijing studio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dissident artist posts images of suspected bugs on Instagram after returning to China following first overseas trip in four years
\n\"2954\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ai Weiwei during his visit to London. Photograph: Guy Bell\/Rex<\/p>\n

Sunday 4 October 2015 06.45 EDT Last modified on Sunday 4 October 2015 19.01 EDT<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"417\"<\/a>Artist Ai Weiwei has uncovered what appears to be hidden surveillance equipment while renovating his studio in Beijing. Photograph: Ai Weiwei<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always a surprise,\u201d the text accompanying one of the Instagram posts reads.<\/p>\n

In a video posted on Instagram, someone sets off firecrackers in a bin next to the device. The accompanying text reads: \u201cCan you hear this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found a bunch of \u2018bedbugs\u2019,\u201d the artist told Liu Xiaoyuan, a human rights lawyer and friend on Twitter.<\/p>\n

Ai has confirmed discovering what he thought were listening devices when he returned to Beijing.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At approximately that time Ai was detained without charge for 81 days by Chinese authorities but never charged or convicted of a crime.<\/p>\n

When officials returned his passport to him in July \u2013 ending a four-year travel ban \u2013 the artist told the Guardian he did not fear that he would be forced into exile if he left the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never worried about that. I think if the authorities let me go I\u2019m sure they will let me back. They have been quite reasonable,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

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 .<\/p>\n

Ai has long made a habit of turning Chinese authorities\u2019 surveillance of him into art. When surveillance cameras were installed outside his studio, the artist hung lanterns from them.<\/p>\n

\"595\"<\/a>Equipment found in the artist\u2019s studio. Photograph: Ai Weiwei<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the artist partnered with Jacob Appelbaum \u2013 a WikiLeaks collaborator, Edward Snowden confidant and co-creator of the anonymous web browser Tor \u2013 to make \u201cPanda to Panda\u201d, an artwork consisting of toy pandas that have been stuffed with shredded Snowden documents and SD cards.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting Amber Ziye Wang
\nFor detail please visit here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dissident artist posts images of suspect … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,45],"tags":[57],"views":5465,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5725,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5721\/revisions\/5725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}