{"id":656871,"date":"2026-08-26T05:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/656871\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T05:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T05:07:22","slug":"chinese-artist-gao-zhen-imprisoned-over-satirical-mao-artworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/656871\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese artist Gao Zhen imprisoned over satirical Mao artworks"},"content":{"rendered":"

BANGKOK (AP) \u2014 Chinese artist Gao Zhen was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for \u201cinfringing upon the reputation of heroes\u201d through his satirical works of art, including statues of China\u2019s former leader Mao Zedong.<\/a><\/p>\n

The U.S.-based Gao, who was part of an artistic duo known internationally as the Gao Brothers, was arrested while visiting family in China in August 2024. He has been in official custody since then.<\/p>\n

He was sentenced by the Sanhei People\u2019s Court court in northern Hebei province, according to his wife, Zhao Yaliang. <\/p>\n

The charges against Gao relate to artistic works that China\u2019s authorities deem insulting to revolutionary figures.<\/a> One was a 2009 statue called Mao\u2019s Guilt that shows the former leader and founder of modern China kneeling in repentance, and another was the Miss Mao series of caricatures depicting Mao with breasts and an engorged nose.<\/p>\n

Shane Yi, a researcher at Chinese Human Rights Defenders, who has been advocating for Gao\u2019s case, described the sentence as \u201ca very clear case of a violation of a person\u2019s freedom of expression.\u201d <\/p>\n

Yi said the artist plans to appeal the sentence and noted that the artworks in question were created before the law Gao was sentenced with had been passed.<\/p>\n

The court did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

Amnesty International criticized the court sentence, which it described as a deterrent against artistic expression.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lengthy pre-trial detention and, ultimately, decision to convict Gao Zhen and sentence him to the maximum three-year prison term under this offense illustrate the authorities\u2019 determination to deter others from engaging in independent artistic expression,\u201d said Amnesty\u2019s China Director Sarah Brooks. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo artist should face criminal punishment for creating work that challenges official narratives or encourages critical reflection on history,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Zhao said she hopes to be reunited with her husband and be able to return to the U.S., where the family had immigrated. <\/p>\n

\u201cI felt two years was my limit, and I was really disappointed and sad. I haven\u2019t been able to catch my breath,\u201d she said. She had prepared clothes for her husband hoping that he would be released. Chinese courts often count pretrial detention as time served in a sentence.<\/p>\n

The Gao Brothers, whose works addressed themes of authoritarianism and censorship, became famous in a time of relative openness in China<\/a> and were exhibited both inside the country and abroad. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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However, in recent years, the state\u2019s increased its controlling grip on certain aspects of expression, especially in regards to political figures with the passage of the law in 2018 that bans criticism of the nation\u2019s heroes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BANGKOK (AP) \u2014 Chinese artist Gao Zhen was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday for \u201cinfringing upon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":656872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[267],"tags":[24917,365,362,363,364,10852,381,4506,27,163330,366,18,117,3334,19,29078,17,44215,4076,21378,277570,108415,66],"class_list":["post-656871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-amnesty-international","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-asia-pacific","tag-china","tag-communism","tag-courts","tag-criminal-punishment","tag-design","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-general-news","tag-ie","tag-international-news","tag-ireland","tag-law-enforcement","tag-legal-proceedings","tag-sarah-brooks","tag-shane-yi","tag-socialism","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117160079827168019","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/656872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}