Karen Patterson
DATE WITH DESTINY I'm originally from Calgary [Canada] but haven't lived there for 15 years. I came to China in 1994, to teach English for a year. Via several fate-ridden twists, I'm still here. I moved to Beijing in 2000 from Guangdong to study Mandarin and attended underground performance-art exhibitions, where I met many contemporary avant-garde artists. During one show, I met Wu Yuren, an up-and-coming avant-garde artist from Jiangsu province. Yuren showed an artistic talent from age five, so his family took a risk during the late 1970s and found an art tutor for him in a secret gallery. It had blacked-out windows and was down a side alley. Yuren taught for eight years in Jiangsu and arrived in Beijing in September 2001. He wanted to become a conceptual artist. Shortly after his arrival, we met.
ART WORKS We were married in May 2003. Our daughter, Hannah, was born in 2004. Ever since Hannah was a baby, I've worked as an entrepreneur in Beijing while Yuren worked on developing his art practice. In May, Yuren held his first 'overseas' major solo art exhibition, at the Tang Contemporary Art [gallery], during the Hong Kong Art Fair.
I have opened four small businesses in Beijing, two of which have been sold, one closed and the most recent is the closest to my heart: Beijing Color Studio [offering art classes and painting workshops]. However, most of my working days since June 1 have revolved around Yuren's case.
INSIDE STORY Each day I consult with lawyers, contact international human rights experts, meet with overseas media and learn more about China's opaque judicial process - not to mention being a strong mom for Hannah. My life has been turned upside down. This experience is exhausting - physically, mentally - for all of us, and especially frustrating for Hannah. I've tried to be honest with her about where her baba is but [there's a limit to how much] a six-year-old can process.
A few months ago, I got a feeling she thought I had some magical power that could get her baba out of jail. So I decided to take Hannah to the detention centre. I usually go on my own, once a month, to drop off some clothes and money. I have deposited about 1,000 yuan [HK$1,165] once a month for six months, so he can buy better food and daily necessities while inside. During these visits, I have never been allowed to see him. When Hannah came with me, I showed her her baba is behind the 20-foot wall that rings the three-storey dormitory-looking building, which is crowned with barbed wire. There are watchtowers at the four corners. She saw this and wanted photos of her beside it, so I obliged. I took her inside the detention registration and reception area. She saw for herself that her mommy could not actually meet her baba during these visits. She interacted with the front-desk personnel. They commented to her: 'Oh, you look just like your baba!'
RIGHTS AND WRONGS Despite [living in the mainland for] 15 years, I had never had cause to deal with the law. I had read about numerous human rights violations occurring in China and such issues were supposedly raised by the G7 country leaders whenever they came to meet with their Chinese counterparts. But, to be honest, it wasn't something I digested on a daily basis - not until it hit my family.
Out of the blue, I was faced with having to make decisions: what to do and how to proceed. I met with [dissident artist] Ai Weiwei [see page 22] in the early days of Yuren's detention and he told me: 'The responsibility is yours, Karen, because no one else will fight for justice and his freedom ... You must do this full time and you will do it well.'
I formed a team in Beijing who knew about the law and what happens when someone is suddenly taken away by the police. I think China is suffering enormous growing pains with the reform of her legal system, which, in turn, is having a negative influence on almost every other aspect of development - social, political and environmental.
THE FIGHT GOES ON The rule of law is not something that's bought, sold or somehow acquired. It starts with children and develops as they grow and watch those around them make decisions, act and speak about principles. Yuren's case is one of many examples to show there is, sadly, no rule of law in society, from the local police and up. Just dealing with the Chinese legal system for the past six months has been an experience bordering on the absurd, to the ridiculous, to downright frustrating. For someone who is from a country where as children we learn to trust our local policeman and believe in the judicial system, it has been hard to understand. China technically shares the same civil law system as Europe but it has Chinese characteristics. This would explain why all attempts by myself, Yuren's lawyer and my embassy to visit Yuren were denied for 5? months, not to mention [the denial of] medical attention for the injury he received when he was taken away on the night of May 31. The first time I saw Yuren was [on November 17], the first day of his trial, which was postponed because, we believe, the police video evidence had been tampered with.
I'm planning for the next court date and, after dropping Hannah off at school, I'll be outside the Wenyuhe Courthouse in Beijing with my placard, which reads: 'Wu Yuren is not a criminal!'.
