I am very fond of those decks too.

come on johnny, i am sure you don't believe what you just wrote... allow me to remind a few facts

Human rights defenders in China regularly face police harassment, house arrest, short-term detention, “reeducation through labor,” forcible commitment to psychiatric facilities, or imprisonment on criminal charges, often on state security or public order grounds.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo is serving an 11-year sentence in Heilongjiang province for incitement to subvert state power. His wife, Liu Xia, has been missing since December 2010. She is believed to be under house arrest in the capital Beijing to prevent her from campaigning on her husband’s behalf.

Li Tie, a writer and dissident from Wuhan in Hubei province, was sentenced on January 18 to 10 years in prison for subversion. Li’s especially harsh sentence was the last of several given to several long-standing democracy activists in the wake of the Arab Spring.

After a year in detention, veteran activists Ni Yulan and Dong Jiqin were sentenced on April 10 to two years and eight months, and two years respectively for “creating a disturbance.” An appeal court shortened Ni’s sentence by two months in July.

In late April, the blind activist Chen Guangcheng escaped from his home in Shandong province where he had been unlawfully confined with his family since his release from an unjustified prison term for "intentionally damaging property and gathering crowds to disturb transport order.” Helped by a network of activists, Chen sought refuge at the United States Embassy in Beijing. Following tense negotiations between the US and China over several weeks, Chen was finally allowed to leave with his family on May 19 to study in the US, after central government envoys gave assurances there would be an investigation into his unlawful detention. Chen Kegui, Chen’s nephew, faces homicide charges for injuring several guards who raided Chen’s brother’s home in the middle of the night after they realized Chen had escaped. Local judicial authorities barred Chen Kegui’s lawyers from representing him, claiming they had already appointed a legal aid lawyer for him.

On July 25, Hunan activist Zhu Chengzhi was formally arrested on a charge of “inciting subversion of state power” for exposing the suspicious conditions surrounding the alleged suicide of veteran dissident Li Wangyang. Li, who spent most of his life imprisoned, was found hanged in a hospital room in Shaoyang city, Hunan province, on June 6, his feet touching the ground. His suspicious death prompted an internet outcry amongst Chinese rights activists and led to several large demonstrations in Hong Kong. Relatives and supporters of Li were placed under house arrest to stop them challenging the results of a second party-led investigation into the case, which Li’s supporters see as a part of the official cover- up.

On August 13, police detained a dozen activists in Beijing and arrested another, Peng Lanlan, in Hunan province. These activists had pressed the State Council to disclose government-held information about implementing measures of the country’s second National Human Rights Action plan, publicized earlier in June.

In mid-June, internet censors blocked all searches for Yili milk powder, an infant formula, after the company recalled products contaminated with mercury. Government censors excised eight pages of Southern Weekend newspaper’s coverage of the disastrous July 21-22 Beijing flood that caused widespread property damage and disrupted transportation infrastructure. On September 12, censors banned searches for the name “Jinping” amid frantic speculation as to why Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping had disappeared from public view and from mention in Chinese state media for almost two weeks. He later reappeared with no official explanation for his absence.

At least 27 Chinese journalists were serving prison terms in 2012 due to ambiguous laws on “revealing state secrets” and “inciting subversion.” Journalists are also at risk of perceived violations of censorship restrictions. Southern Metropolitan editor Yu Chen was removed from his position after an anonymous posting to the paper’s website criticized the Chinese Communist Party’s control over the People’s Liberation Army. Xian Evening News reporter Shi Junrong was suspended on July 2 for an unspecified time for writing a June 27 expose about local Communist Party member spending money on cigarettes. He remained suspended at this writing.

so, not a police state?

.. oh and let's for forget

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

just don't.. EVER.

..

I enjoy this thread, interesting points of view

I dont have any points to make other than.... carry on

i lived in china, guangzhou for over a year back in 2008-9. the beijing olympics.

i spent that year, working, living and traveling, from beijing, shanghai, sichuan, fuzhou, shengzhen and for a month, on the beautiful flat plains of inner mongolia.

i ate dog meat (i know, i know...)
i saw a taxi blow up because cheap natural gas tank fuel leaked and got overheated.
my friend got his face smashed over a nokia
I saw a man climbed up a lampost and hung himself in the middle of the road
my financial comptroller's son has high level of lead in his blood as were his classmates
I was at a protest at car factory in fuzhou that the media never, ever, mentioned
i shat inside a large cement box building, flooded with shit of others (long story...)
i gave a lecture to a packed hall of thousands of young people at guangzhou university.

i have many, many good friends there.

and yes, there are malls, and luxury hotels and staggering wealth - but like i said, it's really just the tip of this huge iceberg.

And i don't understand why the skies have to be constantly polluted,
food and water constantly contaminated,
internet forever censored,
the poor has to be so segregated,
and progress have to be so cruel to so many,
and the lucky few can be so blinded by the superficial, transient, wealth to be so arrogant to sweep everything under the carpet and pretend all is rosy, and nothing is wrong, because, out of sight, out of mind.

people like ai weiwei are a very rare and brave breed. with their talent and clout, they could've cashed in on the staggering wealth and make more than hirst & co.

but they risk everything, their lives and the lives of their loved ones, to choose not to.

Ai speaks for the 1 percent, but it's the other 1 percent, the exact opposite of the ones you meet, made you think how China is, ai speaks for the 1 percet at the very bottom, the nameless, powerless, and disposable. can you imagine who are the people at the bottom of 1.3 billion?

have you really, really seen his work? have you seen his videos? read his thoughts? learn about the things he does?

to speak ill of him and his intentions, as you did, so flippantly, is ignorant and shallow.

i wish you well and hope you will eventually look at China differently. and truly understand the people that are living with you, not serving you.

things are not that rosy. there are deep, disturbingly dark cracks beneath your marble floors.

Jonny..self-awareness?? ever heard of it?

The forum is covered with 'debates' you get into.Ever stop to think others might just have a point? You might be the coolest guy in the world for all I know,but sometimes what you type makes it look like you live in a bubble,and perhaps have a blinkered view of reality?

Cringeworthy...

My social status is under-class so I guess you could assume I'm another jealous hater too!

Money can buy you all the art in the world,buy you class? never!

Get out of China Johnnyh. 
You're exploiting the country and it's poor people for your own personal benefit.
IMHO.

Excuse. me but you know nothing about me or how I live so can you please explain!!!

Would love some insight into your thought process here and how you come to such a conclusion

2nd best is good enough for me Dappy. Very honored to be the 2nd recipient of your prestigious award.

Many thanks

At least the sales of these will hopefully go toward paying his tax bill. Everyone keeps on talking about human rights and china. There are countries in a much bigger mess and much with worse human rights violations, ie. middle east. The wei propoganda is supported big time by USA (and this is what you guys are reading) most of the chinese i know have never heard of him and the ones that have think he's well out of order. China is doing very nicely compared to most countries ie. will shortly become the next super power, hence US propaganda, Rhey take any chance to have a swipe at china. People on about the poor in china? No different to any other country ie. 55m people in the good old USA on food stamps, kids killing each other in schools weekly f*cking gun crazy!! US Economy fucked printing trillions of $$ which will never get repaid. Constantly entering pointless wars. Europe Economy the same and countries being over run by Muslims who don't have no appreciation for western culture. Then people talk about Chinese deathy penalty? What about US and other countries death penalties? Could you imagine the Norwegian guy who massacred 70 odd people then smiling on tv in china? No!! He's probably in a nice cell playing Nintendo as I write this, you got admit some things china goes get right like this c*nt would be dead by now. Same with that paedophile mocking police where he had buried the little welsh girl he raped a killed. Bullet is too good for that c*nt also, they should leave the family pay him back with a blow torch and plyers.. Also reading 'Oh Wei Wei isn't happy about looking people up before the Olympics', so you honestly think this wont happen in brazil for the Olympics? Every country would do the same...

What a thread !!  Throwing insults to each other will not help...  and I would never have expected old members throwing such insults, criticizing someone's art collection and way of living.  Saying Johnnyh is a f*cking rich expat abusing of poor Chinese is just plain wrong. Funny how the EU/US crisis turned local people into expats haters; if you are not happy with your life or how you country runs, just move to another country, Europe as far as I know is an open space, instead of jealously ranting on expats...  Oh yeah, I forgot about the odd relationship between UK and Europe I know Brits had better time when the British Empire was properous, but those times are finished.

I concur with statement posted by Jeezuz Jones Snr above, China is doing well and poor in China is no different than any other poor country in the world. China is investing so much in new green technology and despite all comments above their leaders are taking care of their people.  But then Gentlemal is right, Asians are odd crazy people, "f**king Odd Asia" !

That Wei Wei vs China story is just a personal/private matter that is relayed by Western media... some proper propaganda war in my opinion.  Sure, censorship is plain bad but then there is also censorship in Europe and US as well.

Last thing I want to say, before b**ching on Chinese and China propaganda, look at Foreign policies of your own government in recent years and you will see that Europe and US are not better (stupid unilateral wars, drones, NSA, ICC (another western tool))... and they have some real EGO-issue, thinking they can preach freedom and control other states by interfering with their national issues. 

Look at Africa, China NEVER interfere with national issues, they are only here for economic trade.  They arrived in Africa, yes they are taking most of African resources but in exchange they are doing stuff like developing African infrastructures, which enabled some African countries to have a steady growth and good projection in the short and long terms. 

Wait, EU/US and Brits have been in Africa for years, tell me what they did ? Not much, except some food aids and stupid pledges to fund projects and NGOs (understand pay for travel, accommodation, meal expenses for some pseudo-specialists).  NGOs are the plague of Africa; for years, African was given aids, spoon per spoon like a baby... and when the baby miss behaved, no more spoon.  

So yes, to sum up, China is doing well and China is doing good in emerging countries as well. Foreign policies of European and US in emerging countries have been a total failure.  BRICS is the future !  I know there are still difficult times ahead (mostly due to import of cheap bad quality products in Qfrica which penalised the manufacturing sector in Africa) but as the middle class (or poor) in China is asking for more pay, Chinese workers are being brought here in Africa to train people and they create jobs. It means that in 5 to 10 years time, Africa and southern countries will be able to manufacture and export stuff on their own and they will become the new "Dragons"... and this only thanks to China not EU/US who have sleeping on job (and this despite the fact that Britain and Europe is still the largest economic partner of African countries due to colonial past).


**************
Let me end up with some real fact here.  

Five millions people died in Congo war which is often called "the forgotten WWIII". Nobody take actions because of their interest for minerals and especially that coltan (that precious metal used in our phones and computers).  Yet, if you check the list of companies named in that "bloody" trade, you will see that 90% of them are from Europe and US (no Chinese company) - conflictminerals.org/us-canadian-companies-involved-in-congo/ (BBK, Bayer, etc.)

So it clearly shows that while Western countries are blaming China for their foreign policies (mainly stealing resources), the truth is that Western companies are the ones buying the minerals and resources and exporting them to China to get more smartphones and flat TVs.

Another fact (more arty-oriented), the UK billionaire Robert Devereux (a good friend of Brandson and VIrgin shareholder) had recently launched "The African Trust" - www.theafricanartstrust.org/ -  Aim is to bring African art to prestigious auction houses (Bonhams, Sotheby) in UK and US (I am sure you know how it works, they buy cheap art, bring it forward at auction houses, sell few pieces at high prices, then they get their stock revalued with well-known insurance companies, which then go to banks/companies in books as assets) - www.bonhams.com/magazine/12938/ or artdaily.com/news/38702/Sotheby-s-to-Sell-The-Robert-Devereux-Collection-of-Post-War-British-Art#.UkqAJn9Mfg4

But if you scratch a bit behind this philantropic project (he gave £4m to African Trust), Robert Devereux is also destroying forests in Uganda and thus part of this network of Anglo-Europo-American bankers who are the new modern day imperialism - buying land, stealing resources, playing with price of commodities.

A must read - British Corporation Mass Murdering => landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/09/british-corporation-mass-murdering.html

Chinese don't just steal like our bankers !! They first built roads, airports, stadiums, oil shores, etc. and actually help us !

another fucking disgraceful comment to add to the growing list

i am quite amazed to read so much ignorance in the recent posts. Guys, human rigts is not about deciding who's right and wrong,it is about principles created to defend ordinary citizens against the state.
You may think that a lot of things are wrong in the West, and they are, but that doesn't change the fact that China is today a police state where it is almost impossible to challenge the State, however wrong and brutal they can be.
You seem to forget that by denying the situation faced by millions of chinese citizens, you are insulting their suffering and fate. Many chinese are daily trying to voice their opinion, demonstrating in the streets, taking great risks, more than you ever will, often beaten and arbirtarily arrested, member of their families disappearing.  But they do try and fight for what they think is right. Why don't you try to explain to these people that they live in a nice place and that as the situation can be worst in the US they should not complain and thank their leaders for so much kindness. They don't care about the situation in the West, they just want a better life in their own country. They deserve support and admiration.
You sound a lot like the western youth of the 70s who was in love with the Red khmer regime and the chinese revolution, so pure ! So exotic !
Open your eyes and mind to the suffering of ordinary people, this is all that matters, leave politics to politicians. 

Big Boss many Thx and you are completely correct in your views on China's economic influence in Africa.

As opposed to the aid regime. What's really interesting is how Africa as you said is responding.

Sakayumi yes China is state run and not a democracy, yes there is corruption. Yes some of the poplation is unhappy but it is just not as you describe it. That's a kind of CNN view a bit like old communist view of the west.
Unlike the west as in China it is changing every day. They now have a minimum wage different in all areas but basically the same. It's low admittedly but it is there to protect workers. Worker rights are quite strong in China. Yes some factories in the out back abuse the workers. But these cases are becoming fewer and fewer. Still too many though. They do strike etc sometimes successfully and some times not wih local police clampdowns. But that is also changing. But again no different to anywhere else 

Note Maids were mentioned earlier. The Chinese minimum wage protects all workers strangely enough the Singapore minimum wage does to protect domestic workers who are usually migrant workers from other countries. Plus if they over stay their visa after losing their jobs by 3 months they are in prisoned and caned

the majority of Chinese are happy and proud of their country like most people in the world.
today is National Day in China so let's be nice to them and wish them well on this special day in china.
Normally there used to be massive fire work displays but they have been stopped to improve air quality.

I have been coming here for almost 25 years now and the changes are amazing as are the people. As mentioned that's the difference for me with China it is along way from being perfect but uńike most societies it is getting better and better