PORTRAIT OF THE GULAG

摘要

IT WAS HIS most closely watched performance, and it was an uncharacteristically quiet one. Ai Weiwei, China's most famous artist and political dissident, emerged from imprisonment after 11 long weeks a notably subdued soul. He tried to break the tension, as he returned to his Beijing studio, telling reporters he had cut his own hair because it was "more energetic." But there was no masking the toll his time inside had taken. He was skinnier, haggard, the fear evident in his eyes. Muzzled by a one-year gag order, he declined to describe his ordeal. In several conversations with NEWSWEEK, he said he didn't know if he was truly free. "There shouldn't be a trial, but then again: Who knows?" he said. Asked if he'd been mistreated during his imprisonment, he paused, then replied: I really can't say anything. Sorry."