China doesn’t want you to see this brutally honest art about Putin and Xi Jinping

It is well known that there is strict censorship in China. But state measures to suppress freedom of expression extend far beyond national borders – all the way to Europe. This is illustrated by the case of Chinese artist and activist Badiucao.

The Shanghai-born Chinese, who does not want to give his real name, fled abroad at a young age. He found a second home in Australia and has since tirelessly denounced China’s crimes against humanity and the conduct of those in power.

Badiucao has made a name for himself worldwide with his regime-critical prints and paintings, installations and street actions. He focuses on current and past human rights violations, such as the persecution of the Uighurs or the Tiananmen massacre in 1989.

Badiucao also does not accept the fact that Xi Jinping is siding with Putin in the criminal war of aggression against Ukraine, if he is shocked by Western politicians who are friends with dictatorships and greedy business leaders.

Two enemies of democracy as cannibals

A Ukrainian journalist summed it up:

The fact that Badiucao portrayed the two rulers as cannibals makes perfect sense, according to the journalist:

Beijing wants to prevent exposure in Europe

This spring, the first Badiucao exhibition was to take place in Poland, presented under the title “Tell China’s Story Well”, based on the propaganda slogan. So it was about countering the stories spread by the regime in Beijing with critical art, “telling a different story”, as the description of the Polish exhibitors says:

As expected, the Chinese state apparatus disapproved of the project and so efforts were made to prevent the exhibition through diplomatic or political means.

A senior Chinese embassy official visited Warsaw’s Ujazdowski Palace, which houses the Center for Contemporary Art, and called for the exhibition to be closed immediately.

In addition, the operators of the art center announced that letters had been sent to the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage about “interference by censorship”. At the same time, their website in China was blocked by the authorities there.

The museum operators stated in their statement that these measures were interpreted “as acts of pre-emptive censorship” and they strongly protested.

The exhibition could be carried out.

Badiucao is not intimidated

An exhibition about Beijing’s far-reaching censorship efforts was recently opened in London. Under the title “Banned by Beijing”, the Communist Party’s “cross-border suppression” of regime-critical art is addressed.

Badiucao is one of the Chinese artists who exhibited in the British capital at the initiative of the non-profit organization Index on Censorship and spoke at the vernissage about their difficult work in exile.

The curator describes it as follows:

The initiators of the exhibition also spoke to a China analyst and human rights expert, Uyghur-born Nyrola Elimä, on their website:

How you can help Badiucao

Anyone who wants to support the Chinese-Australian activist in his artistic fight against human rights violations in China will find what he is looking for on badiucao.com. Digital artwork can be purchased on his personal website. The artist also has a Patreon page where you can send him donations.

Sources