Thousands of people have donated more than US$500,000 to Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei (艾未未), he said yesterday, in an unusual protest against what they consider an unfair government tax bill that amounts to harassment.
A state-run newspaper criticized the outpouring and warned that it could be illegal.
The donation campaign — in wire transfers, envelopes and even cash sent over his gate as paper airplanes — is rare for Chinese dissidents because of the threat of retaliation that comes with supporting high-profile government critics.
More than 16,000 people have sent about 3.5 million yuan, Ai said, since he announced a week ago that the Beijing tax bureau was demanding that he pay 15 million yuan in back taxes and fines.
“This shows that a group of people who want to express their views are using their money to cast their votes,” Ai said. “It shows that in the Internet age, society will have its own judgment and its own values. People are using these methods to re-examine the accusation that I evaded taxes.”
Ai, an internationally acclaimed conceptual artist, was detained for nearly three months earlier this year amid an overall crackdown on dissent, setting off concern well beyond the arts circles and civil rights community in which he is well-known. The detention and subsequent claims of tax evasion have been interpreted by activists as a way to punish him for his often outspoken criticism of the authoritarian government.
Ai said that he would not treat the money from supporters as donations, but as loans that he would repay. A volunteer at Ai’s Beijing Fake Cultural Development design company said supporters have wired money to a bank account and thrown money over the gate of the studio in envelopes or flown them over in the form of paper airplanes.
One donor, academic Ai -Xiaoming (艾曉明), described her donation as “a form of support as well as an appeal.”
She declined to reveal the size of her contribution.
“Everyone can clearly see how the whole process of accusing Ai Weiwei of tax evasion has not been transparent or fair,” said Ai -Xiaomming, who is based in Guangzhou.
Ai Weiwei has demanded that police return the account books they seized from his studio when they detained him and that they allow him to meet with his former office manager and accountant.
Calls to the local tax bureau rang unanswered. In a commentary yesterday, the state-run Global Times cited unnamed experts as saying Ai Weiwei could be suspected of “illegal fundraising.” It also said the movement did not represent the larger Chinese population.
“It is absolutely normal for a certain number of people to show their support for him with donations. But these people are an extremely small number when compared with China’s total population,” said the commentary, which was published in both the newspaper’s Chinese and English editions. “Ai’s political preference along with his supporters’ cannot stand for the mainstream public, which is opposed to radical and confrontational political stances.”
The newspaper also asked if Ai Weiwei really needed to borrow money to pay off the tax bill. The internationally known artist has shown his work in London, New York and Berlin and has earned huge sums selling his work at auctions and through galleries.
“Yes, I am very wealthy, but this is a separate issue,” Ai said of the newspaper’s criticism. “I have said that I will repay every cent of the loans. One person’s innocence is tied together to a country’s innocence. I’m not doing this to profit myself.”
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