Ai Weiwei

Biography

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist born on August 28, 1957. As an activist, he has been critical of the Chinese government's stance on democracy and human rights, investigating corruption scandals such as the Sichuan schools scandal following the 2008 earthquake. Ai was arrested in 2011 for alleged economic crimes and detained for 81 days without charge before being allowed to leave China in 2015. He now resides in Cambridge, UK, with his family.