A Chinese artist known for his provocative and irreverent sculptures of Mao Zedong is facing trial on suspicion of slandering the country’s heroes in a case underlining how little criticism is allowed under China’s leader, Xi Jinping.
The trial of Gao Zhen, 69, was set to begin Monday at the Sanhe City People’s Court in Hebei Province, according to his wife. Mr. Gao, who has been in detention for more than a year and a half, faces up to three years in prison if convicted. The trial will not be open to the public, a measure that under Chinese law is largely reserved for cases that touch on national security.
“Secret trials are usually a bad sign,” his brother, Gao Qiang, said. “The authorities may have already decided for the court what the outcome should be, and the trial is simply a politicized legal process, devoid of any fairness.”
The Gao brothers were part of a generation of avant-garde Chinese artists who rose to prominence in the early 2000s, a time of relative openness in China. The duo took on taboo topics like the 1966-76 decade of political turmoil known as the Cultural Revolution, as well as the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre. The space for free expression shrunk after Mr. Xi took power in 2012, and in 2022 Mr. Gao emigrated to the United States.
When Gao Zhen and his family were visiting China in August, the police detained him at his studio on the outskirts of Beijing, seizing almost all the artwork stored there. During his detention, his wife and 7-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen, have been barred from leaving China and from seeing or talking with Mr. Gao, though initially they were able to exchange letters. Mr. Gao has refused to confess or plead guilty, according to his wife, Zhao Yaliang.
She said that she hoped the authorities might release him based on time served. “But because this is China after all, we hope for the best but must prepare for the worst,” she said.
As part of a campaign to enforce the ruling Communist Party’s version of history, China has made it illegal to tarnish the reputation of historical figures or to question official narratives. Journalists, stand-up comedians and regular citizens making comments online have been punished under the slander law, which was adopted in 2018.
When it was amended in 2021 to allow prosecutors to seek criminal penalties of up to three years in prison, the government went so far as to publish a list of 10 “rumors” that are forbidden to discuss. They include whether Mao’s “Long March” was actually shorter than claimed, or whether his son was killed during the Korean War because he lit a stove to make fried rice, giving away his position, rather than because of intercepted radio transmissions.
Now the law is being applied to work that Mr. Gao made more than 15 years ago, before it came into effect.
According to Ms. Zhao, the prosecutors have named three sculptures made by Mr. Gao and his brother. They include a depiction of Mao with breasts and a Pinocchio nose. Another shows a group of Chairman Maos with guns, preparing to execute Jesus Christ. The third portrays the former leader, who was responsible for years of famine and upheaval, kneeling in repentance.
People familiar with the case said Mr. Gao has been accused of disseminating images of the Mao sculptures online as recently as 2024, including on the cover of a biography of the former leader by a Chinese journalist who emigrated to the United States in the 1980s.
Ms. Zhao said that her husband has been punished in detention, including being deprived of food and barred from reading books or getting letters from his family. He suffers from lumbar spine disease, chronic hives and other medical conditions. Still, Mr. Gao has continued to make art from prison, tearing pieces of plain paper to make portraits of his family.
Shane Yi, a researcher at the nonprofit Chinese Human Rights Defenders, said the use of a “contrived, retroactively applied law” in a closed-door trial was evidence of “serious due process violations.”
Other rights activists have said that the Chinese authorities may want to make an example of Mr. Gao to silence others who have moved overseas.
Gao Qiang said he hoped the authorities would release his brother so that the family could return to their home in New York and “let art go back to being art.”
Attending an award ceremony in New York in 2024, Gao Zhen reflected on how little things had changed since he and his brother created those sculptures.
“We all hoped for greater openness, but in reality, while China has achieved openness in many aspects — even surpassing the West in some areas — it hasn’t truly opened up its political system. Since the Cultural Revolution, it has regressed every decade.”
Pei-Lin Wu contributed reporting.
Lily Kuo is a China correspondent for The Times, based in Taipei.
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