Fans strip off in support of Ai Weiwei

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Ai Weiwei fans have again rallied behind the outspoken Chinese artist after he revealed he is being investigated on pornography charges - by posting naked pictures of themselves online.

Supporters of Ai - who disappeared into custody for 81 days earlier this year - raised money when he was saddled with a 15-million-yuan ($2.4 million) bill in alleged back taxes, a move he called politically motivated.

Their online drive to send him money totalled nearly nine million yuan, enabling Ai to pay a guarantee needed to challenge the tax bill.

Now fans are taking a different tack to counter a police investigation into photos of the 54-year-old in which he and a group of women pose nude.

On a blog page titled "Ai Wei Fans' Nudity -- Listen, Chinese government: Nudity is not Pornography", dozens of supporters have posted naked or part-naked photos of themselves.

Some of them are full-frontal and revealing. Others are more discreet, with the Chinese character for "love" -- pronounced the same as "Ai" -- or pictures of the artist placed across their private parts.

One man poses as sculptor Auguste Rodin's famous "Thinker" statue, another emulates Michelangelo's "David".

The blog can be viewed at http://awfannude.blogspot.com/view/flipcard [2]

Ai, an artist of international renown whose vocal rights activism has irked the Chinese government, told AFP on Friday that authorities had accused him before of producing pornography.

But he said that he had not taken the charge seriously until his assistant was pulled in for questioning last week about his pictures.

"This is completely ridiculous. Our nation today is so corrupt, with so much sex, but they think nudity photos on the Internet is pornography," he said.

Ai's problems with the authorities started when he began investigating the collapse of schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and a 2010 fire at a Shanghai high-rise that killed dozens.

But until his detention in April, he had been left relatively unscathed thanks to his family background. His father is the late Ai Qing, a famous poet who was disgraced and rehabilitated by the Communist regime.