"Rich and strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, freedom ...", 12 Chinese vocabulary Sunday (August 6) suddenly filled the graffiti wall of London, England, so that a text war that invisible smoke was visibleQuickly explode.
Socialist core values appear in London
A 26 -year -old Chinese student "Yiba" (formerly known as Wang Hanzheng) who studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in the United Kingdom posted on social media such as Xiaohongshu and Instagram saying that he and his team were located in Red Brick Lane, East District, London.A propaganda slogan of the core values of socialism preached on the wall is left on the wall.
根据王汉铮公布的照片，街道两侧的墙壁都被刷成了白色，其中一侧墙壁写着12个汉字词语：富强、民主、文明、和谐、自由、平等、公正、法治、爱国、Dedication, integrity and friendliness.This is the 12 words contained in the core values of Chinese socialism.
He named this mural "the movement of the anti -Tao", and said that the work "does not have much political meaning". The purpose of the creative is to "use socialist construction to anti -colonially the false freedom of the West."
Wang Hanzheng said: "By using the name of freedom and democracy to show the western cultural center, this is the freedom of London." "Such freedom is the construction of the West by orientalism.Equality and exploitation. "
A lot of reports noticed that the word "rule of law" in the slogan was hit the question mark, and the creator's motivation was speculated by netizens.Some people think that this is the product of expressed patriotism by overseas Chinese, and some people think that the work is questioning Chinese rule of law with irony.According to Duan Media report, Wang Hanzheng denied that the question mark on the word "rule of law" was added by himself, and also said that "it is not high -level black."
Wang Hanzheng dynamically matched the on -site chart in Instagram for a limited time, and those words were strongly expressing the freedom of speech, and silently reminded people that "China in 2023, the oppression of ideas, freedom of pressing, and freedom of speech is still rampant."" ".He also said that he was patriotic, but he had the right to "criticize it for certain reflection."
The creator is not graffiti on the blank wall, but first covers the creation of other artists of the wall with white paint.For this reason, Wang Hanzheng said that he regrets that his work covers the works of many artists, but "maybe this is the cost of freedom, let me do bad guys who magnify this price."The photos showed that about nine people participated in the creation of murals at the scene. They put the hollow cardboard printed with fonts on the wall in advance and sprayed red paint.
According to the creators at the scene, many passers -by watching during the creative process. Although most people expressed their curiosity and like, some people threatened them and threatened them, and their paint, bags, cameras and computers were stillStolen.
"Second Creation" of socialist values
12 words on the core values of socialism on the graffiti wall were first proposed by Hu Jintao at the then 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.Under the official promotion of China, these 12 words are used as the slogan of propaganda throughout China, including government agencies, streets, schools, shopping malls and parks.
The 12 words that the Chinese people are commonplace suddenly appear on the walls of the UK. Some Chinese netizens praise the creators to "cultural output" on Western countries to allow the British to experience the feeling of living in China.
Some critics believe that this move is "cultural invasion" in Western countries, not only will not bring good impression, but also "strengthen China's negative impression", which is "high -level black to China"; social media "X "(formerly known as Twitter) is even more criticized for netizens.
But there are also supporters questioned in turn, "Since their (western) graffiti culture can be popular to our country, why can't our 'slogan printing' in the reverse output?"
Wang Hanzheng said that he looks forward to seeing the artist "how to continue creating in the core values of socialism."He may not expect that after the murals came out of the street, the second creations of the local people came in all directions like a tide.Many Chinese and people living in the local area "refuel vinegar" on the basis of the original murals, and vent their dissatisfaction with this mural.
For example: add words next to the word "patriotic" and rewrite it as "I patriotic, do not love me"; add "China No" and "404 Not Found" next to "democracy" and "freedom";"The word" but in English "but some people are more equal than others" (But some are more equal than all "; the word" no "is added in front of" civilization "and" harmony ".
There are also some feminists and sexual minority groups (LGBT+) to write slogans such as "women without a country" on the wall.
Perhaps the second creation of murals is too sensitive. While the two blooms left on the murals, the discussion of the London graffiti wall on Weibo is also limited, so that Chinese netizens questionthe result of".
"The author is dead" fails
In the face of the questioning and criticism of the rushing, Wang Hanzheng reiterated in an exclusive interview with the Hong Kong Ming Pao on Monday (7th) that he has no political tendency, neither "small pink" nor "high -level black"; neither must be neededCriticizing China, nor does it like China to slander foreign ideas.
He said that he hoped that he could stand in the middle and let the works "collide with two different cultures."
On the same day, he issued a thousand -character statement in Instagram and Xiaohongshu, saying that he and team members were very strong network bullying.
These bullying behaviors include: personal information and private life are maliciously ugly and enlarged, and parents and personal information have been illegally consulted on the Internet, which has caused him and his family to bear continuous abuse and death threat.Buy my skull "," in a very fierce persecution. "
Wang Hanzheng hopes that the work can return to society.But from the above incident, the creator hopes that the original intention of seeing "the text is born, the author is dead" has not been realized.On the contrary, the political tendency of the creative team and the motivation behind them have been questioned.
The value of the values behind the mural text war
According to the BBC (BBC) report, although local laws are stipulated, the public cannot create public property such as walls and sidewalks without permission, but the local Talhammhamlez District Council passed a distinction in 2019. "After the new policy of graffiti "and" street art ", law enforcement officers will also" take a balanced view "to protect outstanding mural creation while removing the graffiti on the wall.
This means that as long as the murals should not be ugly polluted, the local government will not force the artist's works on the wall.
It is reported that since 2017, the walls of Red Brick Lane have become a platform for artists to show their creativity. New murals will appear every few weeks.
From this point of view, what Wang Hanzheng and his team were involved in the conflict between values between Chinese and Western.
With the continuous deterioration of the relationship between China and the West and the continuous political diplomacy conflict, multiple Western countries are being decoupled to disconnect and risks, and are committed to resisting Chinese elements that may be included in any field.This has also led to little or even unwilling to communicate between China and the West whether they are rarely communicated between the country, the government, and the people.
The survey released by thePie You Institute in September shows that nearly 70 % of the people in the United States, Britain, Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea are disgusted with China.
Therefore, when works related to Chinese political propaganda appear on the walls of London, it is likely to be interpreted as the hinterland of China's ideological invasion of Western ideology, which will cause conflict.
According to the video uploaded by netizens on "X", many "liberating Hong Kong" and "liberating Xinjiang" on the walls of Red Brick Lane have also appeared to attack the Beijing government's hazards to infringe human rights.
Maybe a few weeks later, the walls of the Red Brick Lane will be brushed with white paint, and even put on another completely different work, so that the battle of the mural text will come to an end.However, the value of the values behind this I am afraid that it will not take a rest.
Wang Hanzheng may want to use the graffiti wall as a laboratory, let Chinese and Western values collide with a thought, and make himself and the team a promoter of Chinese and Western dialogue.But what he never expected was that he was also rolled in and became a member of this difficult social experiment.
