Gao Zhen, a Chinese artist who was arrested in China last year for “alleged defamation of Chinese heroes and martyrs,” remains in detention and his health is deteriorating, Human Rights Watch said in a public statement in early October.
In a press release, the nonprofit called on the Chinese government to drop “baseless accusations” against Gao, adding that he was in “poor health” and collapsed last month.
Gao Zeng forms an artist duo with his brother Gao Qiang. The pair gained fame for creating political sculptures, paintings and performances that challenged communist orthodoxy, often referencing Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre.
The Chinese government arrested Gao Zhen under a 2021 law that criminalizes him, punishable by up to three years in prison, for defaming “Chinese martyrs and heroes.” The law updates a similar law passed in 2018 as part of President Xi Jinping’s long-running campaign to suppress dissent and enforce Communist Party orthodoxy.
As Human Rights Watch noted, the allegedly illegal artworks — 118 works removed from Mr. Gao’s studio in the northern Chinese city of Sanhe in November 2024 — were created between 2005 and 2009. That was long before Xi Jinping took office in 2013, let alone the 2018 or 2021 laws being cited.
“Chinese authorities’ prosecution of Gao Zhen not only violates his basic rights but also marks a step backwards for China’s painful past,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “Criticism of Mao Zedong’s brutal legacy was once tolerated, but now appears to have been banned as President Xi Jinping tightens ideological control.”
Gao’s trial date has not yet been announced, but he is expected to be tried in the coming months, the release said. His family told the nonprofit that a doctor at the detention center said Gio may have had hardening of the arteries, which could be “a precursor to a stroke.” Gao also suffers from chronic back problems and is currently housed in a 430-square-foot cell with 14 other inmates. Gao’s application for medical bail was refused.
“Gao Zhen faces years in prison for holding a mirror up to China’s past,” Pearson added in a separate statement. “The Chinese government should move away from past abuses, drop the charges against Gao, and release him immediately.”
A source close to the case told The Art Newspaper Gao’s case is particularly complicated because he is a permanent resident of the United States and his son is a U.S. citizen. The source said Gao Zhen’s family “still hopes that through the U.S. government’s continued diplomatic efforts, Gao Zhen will soon be reunited with his family and return to the United States.”
In August, Gao sent a letter through his lawyer to Ai Weiwei, a well-known Chinese dissident artist who was detained for 81 days in 2011 without charge. The Chinese government released Ai Weiwei but confiscated his passport until 2015, when Ai Weiwei went into exile. Gao wrote in the letter that his “grim situation… feels like a replay of the drama you experienced years ago.” Gao noted that compared with Ai Weiwei’s situation, there has been little international outcry and foreign media coverage appears to be “silent pantomime.”
“Right now, I am sitting in front of the window of a cell of more than 30 square meters with 15 people locked up, writing this letter to you,” Gao wrote. “The sound of the television and the conversations of other detainees filled the air. Amidst the din, my mind drifted through the space and time that separated your past from my present. It felt surreal—like telling a story from long ago. Yet, everything before me was unmistakably real.”
