Jasmine in the Middle Kingdom: Autopsy of China's (Failed) Revolution (Asian Outlook) (China's "Jasmine Revolution") (Report‪)‬

On April 3, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei vanished from Beijing's airport. Noted for such iconic designs as the 2008 Olympic "Bird's Nest" stadium, Ai is also a visible activist for free speech in China and an ardent critic of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The government later confirmed that he has been detained on vague "economic charges." Most observers now suspect that his arrest is an attempt to silence his human-rights campaign, and Ai is not the only protester to disappear. Dissent is hardly an easy undertaking in China, a country infamous for its capricious use of police and judicial power. Over the past several weeks--while the world's eyes have been elsewhere--the government has waged a truly unprecedented crackdown. But its underpinnings are rather curious. It began simply enough. In early February, during the dramatic final days of Hosni Mubarak's regime in Egypt, pictures circled the globe of the protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square. In one, a young man holds a poster reading: "The people of Egypt demand that President Mubarak resign." There was nothing overly unusual about this sign--except that the text was in Chinese.