Slideshow: The artist strikes a nerve

Sharron Lovell / Polaris

Ai Weiwei, whose sculpture representing the mythical figures of the Chinese zodiac will be unveiled Monday in New York, has been detained by Chinese authorities and accused of serious crimes. Click to see photos of some of his most influential works.

Launch slideshow

BEIJING – China’s Ai Weiwei on Wednesday released a profanity-laced heavy-metal single based on the 81 days the firebrand artist and activist spent in detention.

Written and sung by Ai with music by prominent Chinese rocker Zuoxiao Zuzhou, “Dumbass” is “is a wall-to-wall simulation of the prison cell that Weiwei was detained in,” a spokeswoman for Ai said.

Lyrics in the song, translated into English, include "**** forgiveness, tolerance be damned, to hell with manners, the low-life’s invincible," and "The field is full of ****ers, dumbasses are everywhere."

A video to accompany the song is available to watch on YouTube [note: profanity in Chinese].

Ai’s detention and the hefty $2.4 million tax bill later levied against him led to protests around the world, as well as an upsurge of support in China for the award-winning artist, who was placed under house arrest following his release.

Ai said that recreating his cell and the traumatic experience of being imprisoned – which Ai claims included 24-hour supervision by two military police sergeants, even as he slept and used the bathroom – was a cathartic experience.   

The Chinese government has never confirmed the details of Ai’s detention.

The track, the first single off his new album “The Divine Comedy,” was described in a press release from his studio as “Ai Weiwei’s reflection on the struggle of protecting human rights and the freedom of expression in China.”

The Divine Comedy is expected to be released fully in June on Ai’s website and on iTunes.

Ai’s spokeswoman said that the artist was working on a second album that will shift away from the heavy-metal and towards a more romantic tone.

Related:

• Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei goes 'Gangnam Style'

• Chinese artist Ai Weiwei warned not to attend his own court case

• Ai Weiwei turns camera on himself, citing 'global' problem

Happy Monday all! Below are some of the stories and trends we’re following here at Behind the Wall today.

1. China working to legalize “secret detentions”

Barbara Demick of the Los Angeles Times had this alarming article in Sunday’s edition about a proposed change in the Chinese criminal code disclosed last week. The amendment would enable police to forcibly detain citizens for up to six months in a secret location without formal charges being filed.  Under the provision, government officials would also not be legally obligated to notify lawyers and family members of the detention.

As we have documented in the past, China has stepped up its use of “forced disappearances” and “residential detentions” to muzzle human rights activists crossing the Communist Party.  The new proposal comes as Beijing undertakes reforms of its criminal code for the first time since the 1990s, with other released proposals actually garnering praise from human-rights activists and lawyers.

2. Ai Weiwei writes about his own personal prison: Beijing

Peter Parks/AFP

Artist and human rights activist, Ai Weiwei

Recently freed artist and human rights activist, Ai Weiwei penned an essay for Newsweek that serves as a nice foil to the aforementioned article on detentions.  Ai, who was released from custody in June before being promptly placed in home detention, is dark in his writing and certainly not subtle in expressing his dissatisfaction with the current state of civil affairs in China.

Of his own ordeal in detention, the stunted prose and seeming rapid fire emotions of the excerpt below will transport you to what was assuredly a nightmarish time in his life.

The strongest character of those spaces is that they’re completely cut off from your memory or anything you’re familiar with. You’re in total isolation. And you don’t know how long you’re going to be there, but you truly believe they can do anything to you. There’s no way to even question it. You’re not protected by anything. Why am I here? Your mind is very uncertain of time. You become like mad. It’s very hard for anyone. Even for people who have strong beliefs.

Ai’s has written similarly toned script before in Chinese, but what makes this piece all the more surprising – and significant – is that it comes so soon after an explicit warning from officials following his release to keep silent on sensitive issues like human rights. His travel is restricted by the government and they put a gag order on him for at least one year.

So the fact that Ai chose to write this in English for a major foreign publication like Newsweek makes this feel like that proverbial line in the sand. Will China cross that line or turn another cheek?

3. Bride imports to China blamed for growing gender imbalance

AP

Imported brides from poorer provinces and abroad are helping to temporarily alleviate the problem of gender imbalance in some areas of China, but over time single men from lower income areas will suffer the most.

The Times of India published this story yesterday on the slow-growing but approaching social implications of China's gender imbalance.  One way this is being manifested is in the growing trend of young brides-to-be from poorer Chinese provinces as well as nearby countries like Vietnam, Laos and North Korea being imported to China to help correct the imbalance.  In the relatively well-off coastal province of Zhejiang alone, an estimated 36,000 brides are brought in every year.  This may alleviate the issue in Zhejiang but only amplifies the problem in poorer areas where the gender imbalance only gets worse as women flee in search of more affluent marriage partners elsewhere.

Although Beijing has been successful in narrowing the gap through education and restrictions – albeit loosely enforced – on ultrasounds and abortions of female fetus, this problem is likely to plague China’s future generations: the country currently counts 23 million more boys than girls between the ages of 0-19.

4. Meanwhile in the rest of Asia, marriage is changing

As China battles its growing marriage challenges, the rest of Asia is witnessing evolving attitudes on marriage and the role of women in traditional family life that closely shadow Western demographics.  Recent research shows not only are Asians marrying later in life, fewer of them are doing it at all.

Just 30 years ago, only 2 percent of women in Asian countries were single. Today’s research finds, “Unmarried women in their 30s in Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong has risen 20 points.” In South Korea, men are now glumly claiming that women are “on marriage strike.” 

Women in those countries who are getting married are now waiting later than previous generations; the mean age for marriage is now around 29 to 30 for women and 31 to 33 for men.  This is older even than in the United States, where women are marrying at around 26 years old and men at 28.

Experts attribute this dramatic change in marriage habits to women's better education and career opportunities.  Women with increased education and financial independence not only elect to stay single longer but also in effect elevate themselves into a smaller, more affluent “marriage bracket” of men with similar or greater economic and educational stature.

Ng Han Guan / AP

Ai Weiwei, right, shakes hands with foreign journalists gathered outside his home in Beijing on Wednesday after his release.

BEIJING – After nearly three months of detention, Chinese artist and political dissident Ai Weiwei has been released by the Beijing police department.

A markedly thinner but smiling Ai, 53, did not take questions from the media outside his studio and home in Beijing. Asked to comment on the conditions of his detention, he tersely said, “I’m on probation and not allowed to talk.”

“I’m so happy to be home, thank you,” was the only thing he said before slipping into his home.

Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, wrote earlier today that the police cited Ai’s good attitude, chronic health issues and his apparent confession to charges of tax evasions as the reasons behind his release.

Though no formal charges have ever been announced by government officials – police have previously only cited vague “economic crimes” when talking about Ai’s case – a police spokesman told Xinhua that Ai was allegedly detained because of a “huge amount” of taxes he hasn’t paid for a company – Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd. – and for “intentionally destroyed accounting documents.”

The aforementioned company was said to be registered under the name of Ai’s wife, Lu Qing. The family has previously stated their belief that Ai’s detention was retribution for his outspoken activism on a range of issues raging from free speech to justice for the child victims of school collapses during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images)

Ai Weiwei in November 2010.

Earlier in the night, calls and text messages sent by NBC News to his family were unanswered, to be expected as scores of news agencies and well-wishers have been attempting to contact them. At the time, The Associated Press had managed to get only this texted response from Ai: "Yes. Free."

During his detention, Ai’s wife, Lu, had only been permitted one tightly monitored visit with her husband, during which she found him to be in reasonable health. The meeting was not held at an official jail, and Ai’s family was never officially informed of his arrest. News of Ai’s release was brought to the family’s attention through the media.

Ai’s release comes on the heels of five-day, three-country trip to Europe next week by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Among the countries Wen will visit are Britain and Germany, two countries that have been particularly outspoken in their calls for Ai’s release. As Wen and China work to develop ties through joint work on serious issues like the Euro crisis, it is possible that Ai’s release was a preemptive move to stave off a potentially embarrassing and divisive issue.

Human rights activists believe that Ai’s release is due in part to intense international scrutiny from around the world. “Without the wave of international support for Ai and the popular expressions of dismay and disgust about the circumstances of his disappearance and detention, it's highly unlikely the Chinese govt [sic] would have released him,” Phelim Kine, an Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in an email to journalists.

“AWW's [Ai Weiwei] future is still highly uncertain as he is as [sic] the mercy of a highly politicized judiciary during the worst spike in repression in China in more than a decade.”

The question now is whether Ai will continue his outspoken criticism of the Chinese government and his support for social and political activism. In recent months since the political roundup we have seen since the Nobel Peace Prize and the calls for a Jasmine Revolution, a number of activists who have been detained and subsequently released have been atypically quiet post-jail. 

Ai’s tight-lipped answers tonight are understandable of course for a man recently released from nearly 80 days of detention. However, people like Kine believe that Ai’s newfound subdued nature could be something more permanent.

“The fact is that AWW's ‘release’ will quite likely mean that his liberty, rights and freedoms will continue to be restricted, violated and abused.”