Activist cries danger as China hints at solution

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng's high-profile pleas for U.S. sanctuary upped the pressure Friday on Washington and Beijing to resolve his fate, with China saying he could apply to study abroad.

Robert S. Wang, center, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, walks with an unidentified U.S. embassy staff outside the hospital where blind activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng is recuperating in Beijing Friday, May 4, 2012. The blind Chinese activist at the center of a diplomatic standoff between the United States and China said Friday his situation is "dangerous," and that American officials have been blocked from seeing him for two days and friends who have tried to visit have been beaten up.

The slight concession, offered in a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement, pointed to a possible way out of the diplomatic standoff. Even so, he remained in a guarded Beijing hospital ward, unable to see U.S. officials. His wife's movements are being monitored, he said, and the couples with their two children feel in danger.

"I can only tell you one thing. My situation right now is very dangerous," Chen said. "For two days, American officials who have wanted to come and see me have not been allowed in." 

A self-taught lawyer and symbol in China's civil rights movement, Chen embroiled Washington and Beijing in their most delicate diplomatic crisis in years after he escaped house arrest and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy last week. He left six days later under a negotiated deal in which he and his family was to be safely relocated in China. But he then upended the agreement by saying they wanted to go abroad.

Since his release to a Beijing hospital where he was reunited with his wife, son and daughter, Chen's calls to The Associated Press, other foreign media and friends have resonated around the world, and even become part of Washington politics in a presidential election year. 

On Thursday, he called in to a congressional hearing in Washington, telling lawmakers he wanted to meet U.S. Secretary of State Clinton, who is in Beijing for annual security talks.

"I hope I can get more help from her," Chen said.

While publicly Washington has said little and Beijing has shown little inclination to budge, contacts have taken place. Clinton met Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top leaders, though officials declined to say if Chen's case was discussed. The Foreign Ministry statement was among the first signs of progress. In it, a spokesman said Chen as a normal citizen may apply to study overseas.

"Chen Guangcheng is currently being treated in hospital. As a Chinese citizen, if he wants to study abroad he can go through the normal channels to the relevant departments and complete the formalities in accordance with the law like other Chinese citizens," the statement said without elaborating. At a later briefing spokesman Liu Weimin declined to elaborate.

While the statement only reiterates the normal rights of a Chinese citizen, it underscored the government's openness to letting him go and that Chen faces no criminal charges. Though he has lived under arrest at his rural home along with his family for 20 months, his treatment has appeared to be the retribution of local officials angry at Chen's activism.

Chen has exposed forced abortions and other abuses in his community as part of China's population controls.

Wanted Sculptures in the modern World!

Sculpture 1390, from L. sculptura "sculpture," from pp. stem of sculpere to carve, engrave, back-formation from compounds such as exculpere, from scalpere "to carve, cut," Sculptor is first recorded 1634, from L. sculptor, from sculpere. 

 1. The Great Sphinx, Cairo, Egypt

The story of sculpture spans pre-historic and ancient nobilities to the contemporary, from the utilitarian and religious to Modernist abstraction, and conceptual manifestations of both form and content.

2. David by Michelangelo, 1501 - 1504; 

Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence, Italy

 3. Venus de Milo 130 - 100 BC;
Louvre Museum, Paris, France

Such works of art collectively means ‘Sculpture’ has been mainly in religious devotion in many cultures, and until recent century’s large sculptures, too expensive for private individuals to create, were usually an expression of religion or politics. 

4. The Thinker by Auguste Rodin,
1902; Musée Rodin, Paris, France

5. The Kiss by Auguste Rodin, 1889;
Rodin Museum, Paris, France

Those the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the Ancient Mediterranean, India and China, as well as many in South America and Africa.
 

 6.  The Statue of Liberty
by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, New York, US

7. Christ the Redeemer
By Paul Landowski Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A statue is a sculpture in the round representing one or more people or animals, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger. Its primary concern is representational.
 

 8. Tian Tan Buddha, Hong Kong, China

9. The Bronze Horseman by Étienne Maurice Falconet
1782; Saint Petersburg, Russia

The definition of a statue or trophy or memorial is not always clear-cut; sculptures of a person on a horse, called Equestrian statues, are certainly included, and in many cases, such as a Madonna and Child or a Pietà, a sculpture of two people will also be. A small statue, usually small enough to be picked up, is called a statuette or figurine.

10. Apollo and Daphne by Bernini, 1622-1625; Galleria     Borghese, Rome, Italy

11. Little Mermaid at Langelinie in Denmark

 

Sculpture is valuable or substantial form of public art. A collection of sculpture in a garden setting may be referred to as a sculpture garden.
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created means develop in mind or physically by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer ("plastic") materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals. The term has been extended to works including sound, text and light.
Statues are amongst the wonders or marvel, astonishment, amazement of the world, with the Colossus of Rhodes and the Statue of Zeus at Olympia among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the Moai of Easter Island among the wonders of the modern world.

Rahul Gandhi's politics is not to become Prime Minister

Priyanka Gandhi said the central focus of her Brother Rahul Gandhi's politics is not to become prime minister and the question does not arise at the moment. "I do not think that is the central focus of his politics. We have an extremely good prime minister. We are fortunate to have a person who is honest and works well and I don't think this question arises at the moment," Priyanka told the media in Rae Bareli. 

 “I do not think that is the central focus of his politics. We have an extremely good Prime Minister. We are fortunate to have a person who is honest and works well and I don’t think this question arises at the moment,” Priyanka said.
She was replying to a question on whether the time has come for Rahul to become Prime Minister, a demand that is frequently made by sections within the Congress.
The 40-year-old daughter of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was all-praise for Rahul and his contribution to building up the Congress in Uttar Pradesh, said he is more concerned about his work than worrying about how the election results would impact his reputation.
She was replying to a question on whether the time has come for Rahul to become prime minister, a demand that is frequently made by sections within the Congress.
On a campaign trail in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Priyanka also backed Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, saying she feels "sad" about the attacks on him in the 2G spectrum case when he has an "onerous and huge" responsibility towards the people of this country.
"You see the political career of Rahul Gandhi that whether he should be the party president or Prime Minister, but neither he nor us see it that way...he is more concerned about what he is doing.
She was replying to a question on whether the time has come for Rahul to become Prime Minister, a demand that is often made by sections within the Congress.
She alleged that there has been corruption and lack of law and order in UP for the last 22 years.
“Work of the people is not done. People are fed up,” she said.
Priyanka also rubbished charges that Rahul’s politics was not about development.