What did Ai Weiwei investigate after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake?

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Chinese activist and artist Ai Weiwei in 2019, facing the camera and wearing a black zip-up jacket. — Ai Weiwei Ai Weiwei, 2019.

Following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, Ai Weiwei launched a "citizen investigation" into the tragedy. He specifically targeted the government's failure to release details regarding the thousands of children who died when public schools collapsed, as shoddy construction was suspected to be the cause of these fatalities.1

Ai utilized his blog to mobilize his readership to help uncover the truth about the victims. This activism resulted in significant artistic works, such as the 2009 installation Remembering, which featured 9,000 colored backpacks arranged to display a quote from a grieving mother of an earthquake victim.1