First, a work made with hundreds of river crabs in different positions. In Chinese, the word "crab" sounds almost like "harmony", a term usually used by the Chinese government, specially when justifying censorship.

In 2011, Weiwei made a marble sculpture of a baby pram in the grass. Such an ordinary object made with a pricely material aims to represent the emperors of China, specially those of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In their time, those emperors used to commission daily life objects in the most extravagant materials, making them totally inefficient for their purpose.

Something similar can be seen in "Table with three legs", a piece belonging to the series Furniture. In this case Weiwei tries to create an object like the original ones of the Ming or Qing Dynasties, but with a bizarre configuration. The result is so un-aesthetic and useless as was the furniture of Imperial China.

To make "Fragments", Ai Weiwei uses pillars and beams of “tieli”, a tree of China whose wood is so strong it is used as foundations. The pillars in this artwork belonged to a demolished Qing Dynasty temple. Several carpenters, guided by the artist, created a structure that, seen from above, forms the map of China.

Finally, two highly visual works: "Straight" and "Bicycle Chandelier". The first one is the largest of the exhibition and occupies the widest room at the Royal Academy. It's made of a series of iron canes which used to be part of the unstable schools made by the Chinese government and which caused so many deaths of young students during 2008 Sichuan's earthquake. The canes were totally twisted by the force of the earthquake and Weiwei himself, together with his collaborators, straightened them to create a 90-tons-sculpture which imitate the waves of the tectonic plates.

"Bicycle Chandelier" belongs to the series of works Weiwei makes with bicycles as a tribute to Marcel Duchamp and his Bicycle Wheel, a ready-made of 1913. The last room of the exhibition displays an installation made of a never-ending number of bicycles decorated with crystals.