Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen received a three-year prison sentence on Tuesday from a Hebei court for satirical sculptures of Mao Zedong.
Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province
Chinese dissident artist Gao Zhen was handed the maximum three-year sentence for defaming national heroes and martyrs
by a Chinese court on Tuesday, according to his wife and a rights group. New York-based Gao, 70, was detained in August 2024 during a visit to China from the U.S. and was tried earlier this year in a one-day closed-door trial.
We feel outraged,
Gao’s wife Zhao Yaliang told Reuters about Tuesday’s sentencing, which took place at Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei province neighbouring the capital. She stated that ever since she learned of the verdict, she hasn’t been able to recover from it, describing it as devastating, and added that Gao plans to appeal.
Shane Yi, a researcher at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders group, which operates outside the country, called for his release. He stated that the court has now sentenced him to three years for artwork he made as far back as 2005, some 16 years before the law he was charged under even existed. He added that the only outcome that respects Gao Zhen’s rights is his immediate, unconditional release. The court did not answer a call requesting comment outside business hours.
Satirical Sculptures and the Cultural Revolution
Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs
Gao was charged under China’s Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs, which went into effect in 2018 and was strengthened in 2021, for artworks made between 2005 and 2009, Yi had previously told Reuters. The law has previously been used to prosecute individuals accused of insulting members of the military who died in the line of duty, as well as historical figures. Yi stated on Tuesday that by applying a law retroactively and holding a closed-door trial that shut out even his own family, Chinese authorities have shown exactly how little due process they’re willing to give.
Growing Nostalgia Amid Economic Strains
Nanjie Village in Central Henan Province
Nostalgia for Mao’s egalitarian ideals is growing in China as memories of his turbulent rule fade and the country grapples with a slowing economy and inequality. While the ruling Chinese Communist Party maintains Mao was a revolutionary hero, it publicly acknowledged after his death that his devastating Cultural Revolution was a “grave mistake” — a verdict upheld by subsequent leaders.
In Nanjie village, often dubbed China's last Maoist village
in central Henan province, countless murals of the former Chinese leader are plastered around the village. Residents still live under Maoist principles of shared ownership, while the rest of the country moved on from that economic model. Xie Kaiyue, a 22-year-old local university student, stated that she still revere him very much when speaking of Mao, who died almost three decades before she was born. She also expressed her view that young people in the village and, actually, herself, aren’t as strong-spirited as in the past, noting that people were purer.
Around 500 kilometres (310 miles) north, in the mountain village of Dazhai in Shanxi province, once promoted by Mao as a national model after locals terraformed its arid hills into irrigated fields, tourists reminisce about an era when the Great Helmsman dominated political and social life. Li, a 64-year-old tourist from Xi’an, recalled of his childhood that people didn’t have enough to eat or to wear. The retiree added that the whole country was full of vigour, and there was a spirit of struggling with heaven, earth, and people to change every aspect of China, noting that of course he misses it.
Still, references to dark chapters of his decades in absolute power are tightly censored in public discourse. In one museum, text mentioning the Cultural Revolution had been crudely scraped off signage. Scholar Xu Chenggang, who was targeted as a child in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution because his father was labelled a “rightist”, stated that everything you see in the public domain is the party line, and no one is allowed to deviate from this.
Diplomatic and Legal Fallout
U.S. State Department
Multiple Western diplomats were barred entry to the trial, according to Zhao, who learned of the verdict through Gao’s lawyer and who said she and her son, a U.S. citizen, had been blocked from leaving China since his detention two years ago. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gao’s sentencing and the exit bans on his family.
