Ai Weiwei now has a visa to travel to Germany, just days after police handed him back his passport back following a four year confiscation.
Police returned his passport last week and he has just received his visa for Germany meaning he could visit his son who lives in Germany.
Ai last week published a photograph of himself on instagram clutching a red Chinese passport online, with the words: “Today, I received a passport,.
It is not clear whether having a passport and visa means Ai will be able to enter and exit China freely. Many Chinese dissidents have been detained at airports while trying to leave the country, while some activists who have left the mainland have found themselves not allowed back.
The Royal Academy of Arts in London said it expected Ai would travel to Britain ahead of his exhibition opening there on September 19th.
Ai’s non-attendance at the event would have generated negative headlines just weeks before China’s President Xi Jinping is due to make a high-profile visit to London.
www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/ai-weiwei
