AI WEIWEI GRANTED VISIT FROM HIS WIFE

The Associated Press reports that the detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was granted a visit with his wife Lu Qing on Sunday. The brief, monitored meeting was his first contact with the outside world in forty-three days.

“He has changed. His mood and demeanor are so different from the simple and spontaneous Ai Weiwei I know,” Lu said today. “It was obvious that without freedom to express himself he was not behaving naturally even with me.” Lu said the people who arranged the visit, who showed her no identification, made it clear that the scope of her questions had to be kept very narrow. “We could not talk about the economic charges or other stuff, mainly about the family and health,” she said. “We were careful, we knew that the deal could be broken at any moment, so we were careful.”

Lu said she sat face to face with her husband during the meeting in a room at an unknown location and that they were watched by someone “who seemed to be in charge of Ai,” and another who took notes. Ai repeatedly assured her he was physically well: “My health is good. I am fine, don’t worry.” Ai suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. He told his wife that he takes long walks everyday, has his blood pressure checked seven times a day, and that he eats and sleeps very well.

Lu added that Ai was not handcuffed and was wearing his own clothes instead of a detention center uniform. His trademark beard had not been shaven. Still, he “seemed conflicted, contained, his face was tense.”

Authorities have still not detailed why the artist was detained April 3. The case has prompted an outcry in the art world and among US and EU officials, who have called it a sign of China’s deteriorating human rights.