Artist Known for Critiquing Cultural Revolution Arrested in China

The Chinese artist Gao Zhen, known for his critical works on the Cultural Revolution, has been detained by Chinese authorities, according to his brother and collaborator, Gao Qiang.

Gao Qiang revealed that on August 26, police in Sanhe, a city east of Beijing, raided their art studio. The officers confiscated several art pieces and arrested Gao Zhen after he refused to surrender his mobile phone. The authorities mentioned a complaint had been filed but gave no specific details. They informed Gao Zhen’s wife the next day that her husband was suspected of slandering China’s heroes and martyrs, a crime that could result in up to three years in prison.

The Gao brothers are renowned for artworks depicting Mao Zedong, the Communist party leader who initiated the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s. Gao Qiang noted that the confiscated works were over a decade old and centered on the Cultural Revolution.

These works were created long before the 2018 law against insulting heroes and martyrs, which was later updated in 2021 with harsher punishments. “I believe that applying retroactive punishment contradicts the ‘principle of non-retroactivity,’ a widely accepted standard in modern law,” Gao Qiang told the Guardian. “There is a clear boundary between artistic creation and criminal behavior.”

Gao Qiang shared with Artsnet that they stopped creating works about the Cultural Revolution after their father, labeled a “class enemy,” allegedly committed suicide in jail. “We are completely exhausted from dealing with the ghosts of the Cultural Revolution,” he said. “They are detaining an artist who is nearly 70 years old under regulations that have only been implemented in the past two years. This situation is exactly what those works were meant to critique.”

Although Gao Zhen has been living in the US since 2022, he was in China visiting family, his brother explained. Gao Zhen left China for his son’s education in the US and due to the worsening political environment. They had planned for Gao Zhen to return to the US with his wife and children.

Under Communist party leader Xi Jinping’s growing authoritarianism, social and cultural figures are increasingly targeted. Authorities commonly use laws against slandering heroes and the vague crime of picking quarrels to target various groups including lawyers, artists, dissidents, and journalists.

This week, it was reported that citizen journalist Zhang Zhan was re-detained just months after her release from prison. Zhang had been released in May after serving several years for reporting from Wuhan during the COVID-19 epidemic, a conviction heavily criticized by human rights organizations. On Monday, it was revealed that Zhang was re-arrested in her hometown in Shaanxi after meeting with the mother of a recently detained activist. She is being held in Shanghai’s Pudong detention center, though it remains unclear if it is criminal or administrative detention, which allows police to hold someone for up to 15 days without charge.

Reporters Without Borders expressed alarm over Zhang’s apparent detention and urged the international diplomatic community to act to ensure her safety. “After barely surviving four years in prison and living under strict surveillance, it is clear that Chinese authorities remain intent on continuing to punish Zhang Zhan for her independent journalism,” said Rebecca Vincent, RSF’s director of campaigns.

The Pudong detention center declined to comment.

Additional research by Chi-hui Lin

Source: The Guardian, ArtNet