China detains artist who posted humorous photo of president

Judy Zhu said police accused her husband, Dai Jianyong, of “creating a disturbance” after detaining him Tuesday near their Shanghai home.

Dai is known for posting eclectic photos on social media, including some showing himself and others scrunching up their lips and eyes. Dai posted images of Xi with the same expression while wearing a moustache.

Some online commentators have compared the Xi portrait to Adolf Hitler, although Dai’s Instagram image has much broader moustache than the small, square-shaped, “toothbrush moustache” associated with Hitler and Charlie Chaplin. Dai faces up to five years in prison if convicted. Shanghai police didn’t answer phone calls on May 28.

Chinese artists have long walked a fine line between what they can express without getting into trouble with authorities. Posting politically sensitive work online has become one clear red line, especially under Xi’s more hardline rule.

“In general, the space for civil society to make their opinion public has become much harder under Xi Jinping, and that’s also true of artists,” said Frances Eve, a researcher with the activist group Chinese Human Rights Defenders. “The government’s always made it a little unclear, but people who used to work as artists felt like they hadn’t crossed the lines. Now, people have been detained and have crossed that line they didn’t know was there.”

The clampdown has also ensnared citizen activists who have posted eyewitness video and other information deemed embarrassing to authorities, including activist Wu Gan who was formally detained on May 27 after drawing attention to government land seizures and alleged police brutality.

Zhu said Dai previously created collages of former Chinese President Hu Jintao covered with the heads of random people, but had not received warning that anyone in government was paying attention. She said about a dozen police were waiting for the couple when they returned home on May 28.

“It was just a playful thing he did,” she said. “I don’t think there was that much political intent behind it.”