Joint Letter Calling for Gao Zhen’s Release: Upholding Human Rights and Freedom of Expression
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We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the arrest and detention of Gao Zhen, a prominent artist in the contemporary Chinese art world and a member of the well-known Gao Brothers, the collaborative artist duo.
On Aug. 26, Gao Zhen, 68, was detained while traveling in China with his wife and son. Approximately 30 police officers conducted a raid on the artist’s studio in Yanjiao, a town in the small city of Sanhe, in the Northern province of Hebei. Police officers asked him to hand over his mobile phone, and when he refused, they handcuffed and arrested him. The police photographed the artworks and confiscated and sealed several sculptures from the studio, most of which were made over a decade ago, before sealing his studio.
The following day, Gao Zhen’s wife was informed by the Sanhe City public security bureau that he was detained. According to his brother, Gao Qiang, Gao Zhen’s wife was warned by police not to speak to the media about her husband’s detention.
He has since been held at the Sanhe City Detention Center on charges of “slandering China’s heroes and martyrs” — a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. Sanhe City Procturate has also approved the formal arrest of Gao Zhen, and seized his apartment in Jinan, the capital city of Shandong province, according to his brother. Gao’s wife and their 6-year-old son, a United States citizen, were also barred from leaving China when they attempted to return to New York from Beijing. Gao Zhen himself is a US green card holder.
Since the 1980s, the Gao Brothers have been committed to exposing the horrors of the Cultural Revolution through satirical humor that pushes the boundaries of social commentary. These works include “Mao’s Guilt” (2009), depicting Mao on his knees and confessing his sins; “The Execution of Christ” (2009), showing a group of figures in the likeness of Mao pointing weapons at Jesus; and “Miss Mao” (2006), a collection of statues of Mao with a feminine figure and a protruding, Pinocchio-like nose.
His works are bold critiques of the Cultural Revolution and former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Mao Zedong and his authoritarian rule of the country. These are sensitive topics considered taboo in today’s CCP-controlled China, but which are incredibly necessary to educating the world on the truth of Mao’s dictatorial legacy.
HRF and the undersigned organizations below recognize that the Gao brothers’ artistic expression challenges the CCP’s revisionist version of history, in which Mao is revered as a sanctified national hero, and any views that question or challenge his legacy are criminalized under the 2018 Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law. Moreover, HRF reaffirms every person’s right, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to freely express their thoughts in any form.
The amendment to the Criminal Law regarding “infringing on the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs” has become a tool for silencing the artistic and intellectual expression of Chinese artists. Gao Zhen’s arrest for his creation that reminds the public of the brutal realities of communist dictatorship reveals the CCP’s relentless drive to erase inconvenient truths and maintain an uncontested narrative devoid of accountability to its revisionist telling of history. This is another example that exposes Beijing’s hypocritical claim of building a “community with a shared future for mankind,” signaling a “future” built on suppression, coercion, and control rather than on mutual respect, protection, and the celebration of free expression.
The Human Rights Foundation and the undersigned organizations below are gravely concerned by the arrest of Gao Zhen and call for his unconditional and immediate release. His detention is not just a violation of his rights but a blatant abuse of power and an attack on the fundamental human freedoms of all Chinese people who have the right to learn the truth about dictator Mao Zedong.
We call for Gao Zhen’s immediate and unconditional release so that he may reunite with his family. We also demand that the CCP repeal the Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law to safeguard artistic freedom in China and prevent political censorship from further stifling creative expression.
Undersigned (in alphabetical order):
Artistic Freedom Initiative
Artists at Risk Connection (ARC)
Artists at Risk
Chinese Human Rights Defenders
Citizen Power Initiatives for China
Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights in China
Humanitarian China
Index on Censorship
NGO DEI
Writer Ma Jian (马建)