In art colony, illusion of free speech is shattered

BEIJING>> Just a fewweeks ago, oil painters in eastern Beijing’s Songzhuang art district had welcomed foreign reporters into their studios and show n off works tackling such touchy subjects as China’s prisons and Communist Party politics. Over lunch, they candidly lamented the state of free speech in China while chewing on chicken and downing glasses of beer.

In a tightly controlled society where dissent is quickly squashed, the artists of Songzhuang appeared to be enjoying a rarely seen degree of creative and political freedom. But then, on Oct. 1, that illusion was shattered.

Police first detained poet Wang Zang after he posted on Twitter a picture and message supporting pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong. The next day, police rounded up another seven people who were heading to a poetry reading advertised on social mediaas supporting Hong Kong protesters. A total of 13 people living or working in the art colony were ultimately detained on charges of “creating trouble,” according to Wang Zang’s wife, Wang Li.

This past weekend, the police buildup was everywhere, with uniformed officers patrolling the aisles of Songzhuang’s art shops and riding in golf carts through its sleepy winding streets. Artists who weeks earlier had opened wide their studio doors were apologetically warning away visitors, fearful that speaking too freely could get them into trouble.

Since Songzhuangwas founded two decades ago, its artists have largely avoided official harassment by following a few tacit rules: If they produced provocative work, they showed it only to each other, and if they sold it, they did so privately. Most importantly, they kept a lowprofile.

Painter Tang Jianying, known as one of Songzhuang’s most outspoken artists, said his neighbors had crossed that line by taking their dissent to the Internet.

Although China’s constitution promises free speech rights, in reality, figuring outwhat you cansay or write has always been a guessing game.

Authorities have in recent months tolerated grass-roots protests on environmental issues but at the same time, violently cracked down on Muslim Uighurs in China’s farwest who haved enounced the central government’s policies on minorities. Watchdog groups such as Amnesty International say free speech restrictions have only tightened during the nearly twoyear-old government of President Xi Jinping with police detaining dozens of lawyers, journalists and activists and even closely monitoring non-political groups such as Christian churches and community libraries.

On Wednesday, Xi told the country’s most well-known directors, writers and artists gathered in Beijing that their art should be patriotic and reflect socialist values, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. That message was prominently displayed across state media and dominated that evening’s main newscast.

Zhou Shifeng, a defense lawyer whose firm represents several of the Songzhuang detainees, said the government has been eager to quiet any criticism during a particularly sensitive few weeks. Thousands of pro-democracy protesters remain in the streets of Hong Kong denouncing China’s plan to screen candidates for the semi-autonomous city’s top executive. Nextweek, the Communist Party’s top leaders will gather in Beijing for a much-watched plenum.

Despite the tougher environment since Xi’s rise to power, Songzhuang’s artists seemed confident during the Sept. 20 visit by about a dozen foreign journalists that they could avoid government notice as long as they followed the district’s long-standing unspoken rules.

The pressure formore open political speech has only been growing in China, as more of its citizens go online and engage with the rest of the world, said William Nee, aHong Kong-based researcher with Amnesty International.

Still, the price for Wang Zang’s political speech has been steep.

Neither his wife, Wang Li, nor SuiMuqing, the family’s attorney, have heard from him since his detention in Songz huangmore than two weeks ago, Sui said Friday. Wang Li added that all those detained in the district were still in police custody. Local police declined to comment on the cases.