Ai Xiaoming (; born 1953) is a Chinese

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

maker and political activist. She is also a scholar of women's and public issues, and former professor at

Sun Yat-sen University Sun Yat-sen University (, abbreviated SYSU and colloquially known in Chinese as Zhongda), also known as Zhongshan University, is a national key public research university located in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It was founded in 1924 by and nam ...

. Ai was born in

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

in 1953, and has spent most of her adult life in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

. Ai Xiaoming and

Guo Jianmei Guo Jianmei (; born March 27, 1960) is a Chinese lawyer, human rights activist and director of a women's legal aid NGO. In 2005, she was one of 1000 women put forward as nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. Guo is the recipient of the 2010 Simone D ...

won the 2010 Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women's Freedom.

Scholarship and activism

In 1985, Ai became a professor at

Beijing Normal University Beijing Normal University (BNU, ), colloquially known as Beishida (), is a public research university located in Beijing, China, with a strong emphasis on humanities and sciences. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China ...

. From 1994 to 2014, she taught at

, focusing on literature and

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

. In her early career, Ai was an accomplished writer and translator, writing several books on literature and translating the works of

Milan Kundera Milan Kundera (, ; born 1 April 1929) is a Czech writer who went into exile in France in 1975, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1981. Kundera's Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979, then conferred again in 2019. He "sees himself ...

, as well as editing others. In 2000, she visited America as a researcher on Women and Gender studies. In 2009, she was prevented from attending a Chinese Documentary Film Festival in Hong Kong, due to concerns about her personal safety resulting from her political film-making activities. Ai has criticised the Chinese government's national policy of compulsory

IUDs An intrauterine device (IUD), also known as intrauterine contraceptive device (IUCD or ICD) or coil, is a small, often T-shaped birth control device that is inserted into the uterus to prevent pregnancy. IUDs are one form of long-acting revers ...

for women who have already given birth to a child. She has said that many women, herself included, had never been advised of potential complications and the requirement for regular checkups. in 2013, Ai protested topless on

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and outside a Hainan school in response to the rape of six students by the school's principal and a local official. She was jailed the same day for defending herself with a kitchen knife against attackers who came to her home. She stated that her nude protest was inspired by

Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei (, ; born 28 August 1957) is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly c ...

. Ai's films are

banned A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...

in China.

Filmography

Since 2004, she has made more than two dozen films, including documentaries about citizen activism, social problems, and

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

. Some of her films aim to uncover whitewashed historical events.

References

External links

* Zeng, Jinyan
"The Politics of Emotion in Grassroots Feminist Protests: A Case Study of Xiaoming Ai's Nude Breasts Photography Protest Online."
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, vol. 15, no. 1, 2014, pp. 41–52. JSTOR, . Accessed 26 Feb. 2021. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ai, Xiaoming Living people Chinese filmmakers Chinese women film directors Chinese women academics Chinese documentary film directors 1953 births Academic staff of Beijing Normal University Academic staff of Sun Yat-sen University Writers from Wuhan Film directors from Hubei Women documentary filmmakers