Yul Kwon:
Last week, we reported that money has been pouring in from all around the world to help him pay his fine. Giving us some responses to the whole Ai Weiwei situation, we are joined today by LinkAsia’s Associate Producer, Annie Fu.

Yul Kwon:
So Annie, what kind of things have people been saying in the social media?

Annie Fu:
The responses have been really mixed, Yul. For example, on Google plus, where Ai and his team have posted how much money, you know, they have actually been managed to raise from the public. There is obviously a lot of the supporters, and they’ve been calling the government the "hooligans" or "gangsters." But on Sina Weibo, a Chinese microblogging in sight that’s similar to Twitter, there is actually a lot of negative comments saying that Ai is just a showman and that he is doing this all for show because he is actually a very rich artist and he is just trying to increase how much his art can go for. But in response to that, when you look at twitter, for example, there is a lot of people who say, you know, "I know that Ai has a lot of money." User "lonelybeans" says he is supporting Ai so that he can slap the Chinese Communist Party. So it’s been pretty back and forth, pretty mixed.

Yul Kwon:
What do you think is accounting for the differences in perspective across these different websites?

Annie Fu:
Um, I think in reality, that difference really comes down to censorship. For example, Twitter and a lot of the Google domains are blocked in China, and so I think the government doesn’t censor those as much because it’s already blocked and they figured they don’t really have to go after them. But for example, on Sina weibo, which is very widely used in China, it’s also heavily censored so there is more chance for negative comments to be there and to stay there and I think the government probably also has a tendency to try to get a lot of those Ai Weiwei, postive Ai Weiwei comments offline.

Yul Kwon:
Now in your opinion, in your honest opinion, how many of these comments do you think are authentic and how many do you think are being fabricated by the government?

Annie Fu:
Um, that’s really hard to say. But, um, you know there are people online who are really critical of Ai’s attractors, so for example, one YouTube users, cobeyify1 said: "I have no problem if you call old Ai a politician or a revolutionary, but he doesn’t deserved to be called an artist." And in response, user "lemonbullet1" replied, asking cobeyify1 if he is part of the 50 cent Army that posts pro-government comments and if he was selling his soul for such a small amount of money.

Yul Kwon:
That’s harsh.

Annie Fu:
Yeah. So I mean, in general, there is a lot of "he said, she said" going on, the government basically says you know, Ai is guilty, he has not said that he is not guilty of evading taxes, and that he’s been doing this for years, but in reality [is] there is millions of Chinese people who don’t file taxes every year, so that brings back the question why exactly is Ai being targeted, and you know, if he is so guilty, why isn’t there a lot of coverage of him in the mainstream, in the mainstream press, if he is so guilty.

Yul Kwon:
Got it. Thanks so much, Annie, that was really interesting. Annie Fu is a former CCTV-News anchor who was based out of Beijing. We want to hear what you think about Ai Weiwei and his latest standoff with the Chinese government. So, post your comments on our Facebook page at facebook.com/linkasia.