On his video blog, Hua Yong documented how Beijing authorities ruined homes of migrant workers in suburbs after a fire that killed 19 people.
Photo: An unnamed reader of Radio Free Asia
The New York Times reports that the artist made dozens of videos showing demolished buildings and talked to people who were forced to leave their homes. Police officers came to arrest him, but Hua Yong left his house and the city with the help of his friends. He threw out his SIM card, but continues posting videos on the internet.
Hua Yong decided to post videos and tell the truth because he feared that official Chinese media would ignore or lie about the incident. His fears were confirmed. The government and media, who call migrant workers “low-end population”, explain the campaign with an intention to restore order. The artist said in his video that he would be classified as a member of “low-end population” if he didn’t earn his living with painting. Workers in Hua Yong’s video say they don’t understand why the authorities treat them so badly and at the same time put propaganda posters about “people’s government” everywhere in the street. The Chinese authorities deny they used the disrespectful term.
It’s not the first time when artist has confronted the authorities. In 2012, he was sentenced to a labour camp for his performance to pay tribute to the memory killed protesters during a 1989 pro-democracy rally. He punched himself in the face until his nose started bleeding and used the blood to write “64”, the common Chinese name for the June 4 massacre.
Hua Yong, who has earned his living as a painter, questions the value of his work: “In an environment where you can’t speak the truth, creating art is utterly worthless.”
“I hope people living in free countries can pay attention to those in unfree countries, and I hope people in unfree countries can bravely stand up and fight for the rights and dignity of being human,” he wrote in a letter he posted on Twitter.
Below is one of the artist’s first videos about demolished buildings.
Apartment buildings demolished by the government in Daxing district.