纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英艺术家高兟回中国探亲时被捕曾创作批评文革作品

Gao Zhen, a Chinese artist who has drawn international acclaim for works critiquing the Cultural Revolution, has been detained in China, his brother and artistic partner Gao Qiang said on Monday.

中国艺术家高兟因批评文化大革命的作品而受到国际赞誉，他的弟弟兼艺术伙伴高强周一表示，高兟在中国被捕。

The Gao brothers are best known for their statues depicting Mao Zedong in provocative or irreverent ways, such as “Mao’s Guilt,” a bronze statue depicting the leader on his knees, supplicant and remorseful.

高氏兄弟最著名的作品是以挑衅或不敬的方式描绘毛泽东的雕像，如《下跪忏悔的毛》，这座铜像描绘的是毛泽东跪在地上，祈求和忏悔的样子。

The police in Sanhe City detained Gao Zhen, who moved to the United States two years ago, last week while he was visiting China, his younger brother said in an email, on suspicion of slandering China’s heroes and martyrs — a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison.

高兟两年前移居美国，他的弟弟在一封电子邮件中说，三河市警方上周以涉嫌侵害英雄烈士名誉罪的罪名拘留了回中国探亲的他，这是一项刑事犯罪，最高可判处三年监禁。

The police also confiscated several of the brothers’ artworks, all of which were created more than 10 years ago and “reassessed Mao’s Cultural Revolution,” Gao Qiang said. The works included “Mao’s Guilt”; “The Execution of Christ,” a statue depicting Jesus facing down a firing squad of Maos; and “Miss Mao,” a collection of statues of Mao with large breasts and a protruding, Pinocchio-like nose.

警方还没收了这对兄弟的几件艺术品，这些作品都是十多年前创作的，它们“重新评估了毛的文化大革命”，高强说。这些作品包括《下跪忏悔的毛》；《枪决基督》，这尊塑像描绘了耶稣面对一群毛泽东行刑队；以及《毛小姐》，它是一组有着巨大胸部和匹诺曹式长鼻子的毛泽东雕像。

About 30 police officers stormed the brothers’ art studio on Aug. 26 in Yanjiao, a town in Sanhe City about an hour away from Beijing, Gao Qiang said. The officers asked Gao Zhen, 68, to hand over his mobile phone, and when he refused, they handcuffed and arrested him, Gao Qiang said. Gao Zhen was in China with his wife and son, visiting relatives, his brother said.

高强说，8月26日，大约30名警察冲进了这对兄弟位于距北京约一小时车程的三河市小镇燕郊的艺术工作室。高强说，警察要求68岁的高兟交出手机，当他拒绝后，他们给他戴上手铐并将其逮捕。他的弟弟说，高兟当时和妻儿在中国探亲。

The next day, Gao Zhen’s wife was notified by the Sanhe City public security bureau that he was being detained on suspicion of slandering heroes and martyrs, Gao Qiang, 62, said.

62岁的高强说，第二天，高兟的妻子接到三河市公安局的通知，高兟因涉嫌侵害英雄烈士名誉罪被拘留。

The Sanhe public security bureau declined to comment.

三河市公安局拒绝置评。

The slander of heroes and martyrs was made a crime in 2021, as part of a newly amended criminal code, under a campaign by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to sanctify the Communist Party’s version of history. It has been enforced zealously since it came into effect, with officials creating phone and online hotlines for citizens to report violations. A version of the statute was first adopted in 2018 but without criminal punishments.

2021年，在中国领导人习近平将共产党的历史神圣化的运动中，诽谤英雄和烈士被定为犯罪，这是新修订的刑法的一部分。自该法生效以来，一直得到积极执行，官员们设立了电话和网络举报方式，让公民举报违规行为。该法规的一个版本曾于2018年首次通过，但没有规定刑事处罚。

Gao Qiang said he had been severely depressed and having trouble sleeping since his brother’s detention. He did not know why the police had arrested Gao Zhen now, for artworks created long before the law came into place, he said.

高强说，自从哥哥被拘留以来，他一直严重抑郁，难以入睡。他说，他不知道警方为什么现在逮捕高兟，因为他创作的艺术品早在该法律实施之前就已经存在了。

Much of the Gao brothers’ works reflect their personal history. During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s, their father was labeled a class enemy and dragged off to a place that was “not a prison, not a police station, but something else,” where he died, Gao Zhen told The New York Times in 2009.

高氏兄弟的许多作品反映了他们的个人历史。高兟在2009年告诉《纽约时报》，在上世纪六七十年代的文化大革命期间，他们的父亲被打成阶级敌人，被拖到一个“不是监狱，也不是公安局，而是别的什么地方”，并且在那里去世。

In 2022, after years of traveling between China and the U.S., where he held permanent residency, Gao Zhen moved to New York, his brother said, both because his son, who is an American citizen, was reaching school age, and because of the “deteriorating environment in China.”

2022年，在中美之间往来多年并拥有永久居留权之后，高兟搬到了纽约，他的弟弟说，这既是因为他身为美国公民的儿子已经到了上学年龄，也是因为“中国环境的恶化”。

Although the brothers have long clashed with the Chinese authorities over their politically sensitive artwork and have had their exhibitions shut down and their studio raided, they had rarely suffered serious repercussions.

尽管高氏兄弟因其政治敏感的艺术作品长期与中国当局发生冲突，他们的展览被关闭，工作室被搜查，但他们很少受到严重影响。

To circumvent the authorities, they had put on invite-only exhibitions, with the location spread only via word of mouth and coded text message hours before the events. They designed the “Mao’s Guilt” statue so that its head could be removed from the body, leaving it unidentifiable.

为了规避当局的监管，他们举办仅限受邀者参加的展览，展览地点只在活动开始前几小时通过口口相传和加密短信传播。他们设计了《下跪忏悔的毛》雕像，使其头部可以从身体上取下，从而无法辨认。

A decade ago, when Ai Weiwei, China’s most famous dissident artist, was detained, the brothers also “encountered many issues because we accepted interviews with Western media and created artworks involving political figures,” Gao Qiang said. “But we were able to come out the other side unscathed every time.”

十年前，当中国最著名的异见艺术家艾未未被拘留时，兄弟俩也“遇到了很多问题，因为我们接受了西方媒体的采访，并创作了涉及政治人物的艺术作品”，高强说。“但我们每次都能毫发无损。”

But, he said, Gao Zhen’s arrest showed that “now, the space for freedom in China has shrunk a lot compared to then.”

但是，他说，高兟的被捕表明，“现在，中国的自由空间比那时候缩小了很多。”