Not hard to understand why people riot when they make you homeless.
China puts artist under house arrest
PETER FOSTER
Nov. 5: The controversial Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei, whose Sunflower Seeds is currently exhibiting at the Tate Modern, has been put under house arrest after trying to hold a party to protest at the demolition of his new art studio.
Ai, who had planned to travel to Shanghai today with his entourage to host the wake, said that police officers had come to his studio in Beijing to inform him that he was no longer allowed to go.
"I am under house arrest," Ai told The Daily Telegraph by telephone. "They asked me not to go and to tell everyone the party was off, but I said I couldn't do that and they'd have to stop me. So now they talked their superiors and came back to say I'm officially under house arrest."
As many as a thousand people were expected at the party at Ai's £750,000 art studio in Shanghai which was served with a demolition notice earlier this week.
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Note: This is the way how China handles sensitive issues and that is their way of doing things. As Badguy states, this is a better way to life, where law and order or State Diktat must rule supreme over individual rights or human rights.
Their perception of eking an existence is quite different from other nations.
Therefore, one cannot apply our templates of law and order management, individual rights or human rights when commenting on China.
The historical immunisation of the paramountcy of the individual and relegating it to the requirement of the State through Legalism contributes to the manner in which China approaches issues of individual rights and the State's right.
For those who do not know what is Legalism, here is a brief explanation:
Legalism
In Chinese history, Legalism (Chinese: 法 家; pinyin: FÇŽjiÄ; Wade–Giles: Fa-chia; literally "School of law") was one of the main philosophic currents during the Warring States Period (and before), although the term itself was invented in the Han dynasty and thus does not refer to an organized 'school' of thought. It basically postulates that humans are evil and need to be controlled using laws in order to prevent chaos. The trends that were later called Legalism have a common focus on strengthening the political power of the ruler, of which law is only one part. The most important surviving texts from this tradition are the Han Fei Zi and the Book of Lord Shang. In Qin the ideas of Shang Yang and Li Si were essential in building the strong government that eventually defeated its rivals. Legalism was a utilitarian political philosophy that did not address higher questions like the nature and purpose of life.[1] The school's most famous proponent and contributor Han Fei Zi (韓éžå) believed that a ruler should use the following three tools to govern his subjects:
1. Fa (Chinese: 法; pinyin: fǎ; literally "law or principle"): The law code must be clearly written and made public. All people under the ruler were equal before the law. Laws should reward those who obey them and punish accordingly those who dare to break them. Thus it is guaranteed that actions taken are systematically predictable. In addition, the system of law ran the state, not the ruler, a statement of rule of law. If the law is successfully enforced, even a weak ruler will be strong.
2. Shu (Chinese: 術; pinyin: shù; literally "method, tactic or art"): Special tactics and "secrets" are to be employed by the ruler to make sure others don't take over control of the state. Especially important is that no one can fathom the ruler's motivations, and thus no one can know which behaviour might help them getting ahead; except for following the 法 or laws.
3. Shi (Chinese: 勢; pinyin: shì; literally "legitimacy, power or charisma"): It is the position of the ruler, not the ruler himself or herself, that holds the power. Therefore, analysis of the trends, the context, and the facts are essential for a real ruler.
