Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has spoken about his first return to China in a decade, describing the experience as like a “phone call that had been disconnected for 10 years suddenly reconnecting”. The three-week visit in December was his first since 2015, when Chinese authorities returned his passport after confiscating it in 2011 over tax evasion charges, which also led to his detention for 81 days.
After his release, Ai lived under police surveillance with strict monitoring of his phone and internet use before moving to Berlin. He spent the next decade living in Germany, the UK and Portugal. During his visit, he shared personal moments on social media, travelling with his teenage son and reuniting with his 93-year-old mother in Beijing.
Ai told CNN he was “inspected and interrogated” for almost two hours at Beijing airport but faced no particular precautions. “The questions were very simple. How long do you plan to stay here? Where else do you plan to go?” he said, adding that the rest of his time was “smooth and, one could say, pleasant”. He did not believe the visit signalled a change in authorities’ attitudes, but rather a recognition of his sincerity.
He described the return as emotionally significant, saying, “What I missed most was speaking Chinese. For immigrants, the greatest loss is not wealth, loneliness or an unfamiliar lifestyle, but the loss of linguistic exchange.” Ai’s conflict with authorities began after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, when he investigated school collapses and published names of over 5,000 children who died, accusing officials of corruption.
From exile, Ai continued politically engaged work, including the 2020 documentary Coronation on China’s Covid response and Cockroach on Hong Kong protests. In 2023, he had said he would return only if his personal freedom and ability to express himself freely were guaranteed. He has also criticised Western double standards on human rights.
