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Just days after China marked the one-year countdown to the Olympics with fireworks, pomp and ceremony, the Chinese co-designer of the Games' most iconic stadium has slammed the event as a public-relations sham.

Ai Weiwei, one of China's foremost architects, said he feels "disgusted" that the $400 million, "Bird's Nest" National Stadium he helped design with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron has become a proud symbol of China's development.

"I've already forgotten about it. I turn down all the demands to have photographs with it. I'm not interested," the portly artist told Reuters at a studio in Beijing's northeast suburbs. Read full article »

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