Badiucao: Caricature as a Form of Protest against Chinese Policy

Popova Anastasiia Senior Educator, Department of Chinese Language, Moscow City Pedagogical University 105064, Russia, g. Moscow, per. Malyi Kazennyi, 5-B, of. 507 anysta@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Shtennikova Dar'ya Vitalevna Student, Department of Chinese Language, Moscow City University (MCU) 127238, Russia, Moscow, Dmitrovskoe highway, 34 build. 2, of. 204 shtennikovadv@mgpu.ru

Art, as part of the socio-cultural development of mankind, has been used since ancient times not only as a way of expressing a person's opinion about the world around him, but also acted as a political tool for influencing the masses. As Y.V. Maltsev notes, modernity, art, politics are fundamental concepts of cultural theory ^{[5, p. 39]}. Art can not only extol, praise historical events and personalities, ideology, but also reveal the background, criticize, denounce them. The development of any kind of art, any genre of it in time implies both a slow internal transformation, eventually leading to noticeable changes of an evolutionary nature, and the process of a sharp, revolutionary change, when the new arises through the rejection of the old tradition. The study of these processes gives us the opportunity to imagine the complex dynamics of culture as a whole ^{[4, pp. 59-60]}.

To date, one of the most discussed and controversial topics in politics is the conflict between mainland China and Taiwan, widely covered both in Chinese, Taiwanese, and in various world media. The relevance of the topic of this study is due not only to the interest in the relationship between China and Taiwan in the XXI century, but, above all, to the reaction of the cultural community to the events that are reflected in the field of culture and art, in particular, in such a genre as political caricature. As it is correctly noted, a work of art that reflects and transforms the world around us can put the viewer both in an intercultural dialogue and in an open conflict, revealing its causes and showing a way out of it ^{[24, p. 401]}. The object of the study was the political cartoons of the famous Chinese artist Badiucao (). At the heart of the methodology, the authors used content analysis of a wide range of sources, primarily the personal website of the cartoonist, as well as comparative analysis to identify the artistic features of the works. The main attention was paid to the personality of the artist himself, the general cultural side of this or that event or politician ridiculed by Badiucao. The cartoons were analyzed by us in accordance with their specifics, their formal and stylistic qualities, iconographic features and symbolic meaning were revealed. Based on the analysis, we have made an attempt to explain the artistic and stylistic techniques used by Badiucao as a reflection of Chinese culture.

Fig.1 Self-portrait of BadiucaoFig.2 Portrait of Badiucao

Badiucao (, lit.

‘Vain Sketches') is a popular dissident artist from China, working in the genre of political satire, who earned both the fury of the Communist Party of China and enthusiastic comparisons with Banksy ^[21]. The artist published his first cartoons on Twitter, and later his works were used by various organizations fighting for human rights and freedoms, such as Amnesty International) ^{[7, 15, 29]}, " Freedom House" (Freedom House) ^{[16, 17, p.1]}, as well as repeatedly appeared in the BBC news ^{[37, 26]}, CNN ^{[19, 20, 22]}, China Digital Times ^[9], were shown at exhibitions in Australia (since 2016), the USA (since 2014) and Italy (2015) ^[10]. A remarkable fact is that a large number of publications abroad are devoted to the artist and his works, while in China his work is heavily censored, there are practically no mentions of him on the Chinese Internet. The exception is the only article we found on the PRC Internet, in which a junior researcher at the Chinese National Academy of Arts and a researcher at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics classify Badiucao as "Hong Kong separatists" and propose to eradicate the virus of "Hong Kong independence" in the cultural and creative sphere ^[48]. As for Russia, the name of the cartoonist is practically unknown here, which is the novelty of this study for both cultural studies and domestic sinology.

Before proceeding to the culturological analysis of the political caricature of Badiucao, we will give his biographical information, which is a key point for understanding the prerequisites for the development of his artistic and personal interests.

Badiucao's real name is unknown. "I have been living under the name Badiucao for at least six years," he said. "I'm not used to being called by my real name."^[20] It becomes obvious that this was done intentionally, as the artist is afraid of persecution against him and his family by the PRC. "I prefer to hide my identity as much as possible, while at the same time creating noise with my art," he said in an interview ^[32]. And only in 2019, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, he removes his mask for the first time and the audience, fans of his work can see his face for the first time (Fig. 1,2).

From another interview, we learn that Badiucao was born in 1986 and grew up in Shanghai. According to the artist, his paternal grandfather belonged to the first generation of Chinese film directors. After the founding of the PRC, he was persecuted and sent to a farm in Qinghai for re-education, where he subsequently died of starvation. A few years later, on New Year's Eve, his grandmother died of an illness, and the artist's father was left an orphan. Although the neighbors tried to help Badiucao's father, he still faced many difficulties. So, he wanted to apply to college, but he was refused admission because of past family ties. It is interesting to note that the father, according to Badiucao, warned his son not to participate in any political activity and not to express his own opinion on this matter ^[13].

Badiucao recalls that his father also did not encourage the future cartoonist's aspirations to study and work in the field of art, hoping that his son would become an engineer or a scientist, since he believed that science and technology are relatively safe professions in China ^[13]. Following his father's advice, Badiucao first studied law at the East China University of Political Science and Law (China, Shanghai) and did not think about art education. As the artist noted in an interview: "When I lived in China, I never drew political cartoons and in general very rarely drew. My main artistic activity was photography, and I was fond of lomography" ^[13].

As a student, he and his roommates once accidentally watched the documentary "The Gates of the Heavenly World" (Eng. The Gate of Heavenly Peace, 1995) is a documentary about the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, which culminated in its brutal suppression by the authorities. This finally changed the worldview of the future cartoonist. Disillusioned with the politics of the PRC, in 2009 Badiucao moved to study in Australia and got a job as a kindergarten teacher. The artist drew his first cartoon in Australia in 2011 . Its theme was the collision of two high-speed trains in Wenzhou on July 23, 2011, in which 40 people were killed and 192 were injured ^[43]. Badiucao was outraged by the actions of officials when, on their orders, the rescue operation was quickly completed, the railway was cleared of derailed wagons. To do this, the damaged cars were dropped from the overpass to the ground by excavators, and the destroyed cars were buried right at the scene ^[43]. This disaster not only caused sharp criticism from the media, Internet communities, and the public in general, but also served as an impetus for the creative development of Badiucao. In his subsequent works, he seeks to use painting as a weapon of culture and to display the topics that concern him, critical, negative attitude to the political course and image of the PRC in the world political arena.

On June 4, 2016, in various places in Adelaide (Australia), Badiucao presented a performance-cosplay "One TankMan" on the theme of the famous photo illustrating the protest action in Tiananmen Square ^[32] (Fig. 3). Then, in 1989, a man with a package standing in front of a tank on the Tiananmen Square during the student protest demonstrations in Beijing in 1989, dubbed the "Events of June 4". Since 1989, a man with string bags in front of a tank has become a symbol of China's protests, in Russia he is known as the "Unknown Rebel". In Chinese and in English, he is known as a Tankman (Kit. ;; Eng. Tank Man). In China, this photo is almost unknown due to the strict censorship of the government ^[27]. Therefore, Badiucao decided to revive the image of the Unknown Rebel as a symbol of human rights protection, creatively presenting it to the general public (Fig. 3). So in 2018, the artist manages to create a new activist direction for the protection of human rights, his symbol also becomes the famous image. And exactly a year later, on the 30th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square, the cartoonist reveals his identity, ceasing to publish anonymously ^[32].

Fig.3 Badiucao and his performance-cosplay "One TankMan". Adelaide, Australia, 2016On September 17, 2020, Badiucao was awarded the Vaclav Havel Award for Creative Disagreement by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF)^[1].

To date, Badiucao is one of the most famous Chinese cartoonists covering the conflict between mainland China and Taiwan.

It is worth noting that Badiucao began publishing seriously back in 2013, but he gained fame only in 2017, portraying Chinese President Xi Jinping in the form of a Disney Winnie the Pooh. Thanks to the cartoon "Wolf warrior 3" (2013/2017?^[2]) ^{[40, 46]} such a satirical image of Xi Jinping has spread all over the world (Fig. 4).

  Fig.4. wolf warrior IIIIt should be clarified that earlier, before the publication of the Badiucao cartoon, such a comparison of the Chairman with Winnie the Pooh had already appeared on the Chinese Internet.

In China, it was perceived extremely negatively. The Disney cartoon about Winnie the Pooh was even banned from showing on the territory of China ^[28]. Being a local meme popular in the circles of Chinese dissident society, the image of Xi Jinping in the form of Winnie the Pooh was not yet known to the whole world.

In his caricature, Badiucao uses a well-known image to the Chinese viewer, he portrays Xi Jinping (and therefore the PRC) in the form of Winnie the Pooh, standing with his back to the viewer and turning his face to him with a sinister grin. The essence of Badyutsao's satire lies in the fact that the cartoonist slightly changes the usual image of a bear cub, adding a wolf's tail to it, and signs the cartoon "WOLF WARRIOR III, ". Thus, the artist refers the viewer to a series of films released in the Middle Kingdom called "Wolf Warrior" ("War of the Wolves") and telling about an elite Chinese squad fighting crime in the state. On the Internet, this animated picture gained fame due to the fact that it demonstrated the aggressive and intimidating policy of the Chinese government. It is obvious that Badiucao attributes the same qualities to the leader of the PRC. It is thanks to this cartoon that the Winnie-the-Pooh satire turns from an internal joke among the dissident community of China into a global phenomenon of resistance to the dictatorship of the Middle Kingdom. This work has received vivid coverage in major foreign media such as HKFP ^[11], NYT, CNN, BBC, ABC ^[41], and has also been exhibited in galleries in the USA (2017), Italy (2017), Czech Republic (2017) and Australia (2017) ^[41].

If we talk about the relations between mainland China and Taiwan, researchers of this issue point out that representatives of the Chinese authorities note the need to develop international cooperation in the field of countering separatism, thus emphasizing the position of "united China" in relation to Taiwan ^{[1, p. 39]}. One of Badiucao's first works on the topic of relations between Taiwan and China was the cartoon "" (Russ. "The sweet meeting of Mr. Xi and Mr. Ma"), published in 2015. ^[49] (Fig. 5).

  Fig.5

In it, the cartoonist again uses Disney characters: he portrays Xi Jinping in the form of Winnie the Pooh, and the then chairman of the Kuomintang Party Ma Ying-jeou in the form of a donkey Ia, we understand this thanks to the blurred flag of the Republic of China painted on his stomach. The bear cub, equipped with weapons and ammunition, stands behind the donkey, controlling the latter's hands like a puppet. In one of the paws, Winnie-the-Pooh also holds a fishing rod with money, at which Eeyore's gaze is fixed. This work is a reference to the meeting that took place on November 7, 2015 between Xi Jinping and Ma Ying-jeou, it was the first since the formation of the PRC in 1949 ^[31]. At the meeting, Mr. Ma proposed to reduce hostility on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, expand cultural exchange and establish a hotline on both sides of the Strait to resolve important or urgent issues. He said it was part of the consolidation of the "1992 consensus" — an agreement under which both sides recognize the "one China" principle, but define it in their own way. Similar remarks were made by Mr. Xi, who noted that compliance with the consensus will help "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" ^[14]. But what is striking is the fact that earlier in 2011, Ma Ying-jeou promised that he would "absolutely never meet with the leaders of mainland China for the next four years" ^[42]. These events and statements caused a negative reaction in Taiwan, as many feared that Taiwan's democracy was under the excessive influence of China. Former President Ma, who did not keep his promise, was also criticized for not mentioning the preservation of Taiwan's democracy and freedom at the meeting ^[23].

Later, in December 2016, Badiucao tweeted several cartoons related to a telephone conversation between the 45th US President Donald Trump and the leader of the Democratic Progressive Party, Tsai Ing-wen ^[36].

The first of such works we can call the 2016 cartoon "Taiwan Call Crisis?" / "Taiwan calls crisis"^[3] (2016) ^{[34, 45]} (Fig. 6). In this cartoon, the artist presented the leaders of the United States and China Donald Trump and Xi Jinping competing in arm wrestling, as if they they are trying to find out which of them is stronger. Instead of chairs, they sit on ballistic missiles with the name of the rival country. A phone rings on the table near Trump, whose wire is connected to a rocket that replaces the chair of the Secretary General of the People's Republic of China. Above the figures of the leaders, Badiucao placed the inscription "Call from Taiwan!" (Russ. "Call from Taiwan!"). This allows us to understand that the call to this phone comes from Taiwan, and the wire attached to the rocket with the inscription "USA" symbolizes the control that the United States has over the island. Indeed, the reason for the creation of this cartoon is most likely the political line of Taiwan. After coming to power in 2016, the President of Taiwan, the leader of the Democratic Party, Tsai Ing-wen, took a course to curtail the policy of rapprochement with China, building her strategy on improving relations with the United States, which seriously affected relations between China and America.

  Fig.6 Taiwan Call Crisis?Later, Badiucao depicted this event in another cartoon called "ONE CHINA 1" ^[30] (Fig. 7).

In it, the artist depicts former US President Donald Trump talking on a phone that is connected by wire to Taiwan. At the same time, Trump is sewing the island to mainland China. Thus, the cartoonist shows the ambiguity of the US behavior towards China and Taiwan, reflecting the duplicity in its policy. This cartoon illustrates the inconsistent and destabilizing behavior of Donald Trump in US-China relations: after his inauguration as US president, he agreed to respect the "one China policy", which postulates Taiwan as an integral part of the PRC, although he previously stated the possibility of abandoning the policy of non-recognition of Taiwan as an independent state. It is noteworthy that Beijing in response to this demonstrated a restrained reaction, calling the incident a "childish trick of Taiwan" ^[3].

Fig.7 ONE CHINA 1The next significant work on the topic of disagreements between Taiwan and mainland China was an image from a series dedicated to the Winter Olympic Games held in Beijing in 2022 ^[18].

A striking example was the work called "Speed Skate" (2022) ^{[33, 44]} (Fig. 8). In it, the artist depicts a Taiwanese speed skater ahead of a Chinese rival. The athlete from Taiwan is dressed in a green and white jacket, which says "TAIWAN" ("Taiwan"), while the Chinese skater is dressed in a red suit with the symbols of the flag of the People's Republic of China. There is a banana peel on the path in front of them, on which a Taiwanese skater is about to slip. After examining the image more closely, we understand that this dishonest trick was set up by a Chinese athlete, since we see another banana peel in his hand. In this work, Badiucao uses a symbol that is classic in the world and reflects fraud and meanness. Thus, it becomes obvious that the Chinese skater is going to substitute the winning Taiwanese. In this cartoon, Badiucao raises the problem of constant intimidation and harassment of Taiwan by China.

  Fig.8 Speed SkateThe use of the theme of skaters, it seems to us, is also not accidental – this work refers us to the scandal with the Taiwanese athlete Huang Yuting ().

She tried on the uniform of China, posting a photo in it on her social networks ^[50]. As a caption to the photo, the athlete left a peaceful comment in the Olympic spirit: "There are no different nationalities in the world of sports, we are all good comrades outside of sports arenas. I don't want to distract attention from what is important" ^[6], which caused a violent disapproving reaction in Taiwan in my direction.

One of Badiucao's latest works, revealing the topic of Taiwan's position in the world, is a satire on the visit to Taiwan by an American congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, entitled "A historic moment" (2022) ^[8] (Fig. 9). In this cartoon, the artist uses the symbol of Winnie the Pooh, which is already known to us, turning this character into a carpet on which Nancy Pelosi, a deputy of the House of Representatives of the US Congress, and Tsai Ing-wen, Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan, are waving to the viewer. With this work, Badiucao clearly showed how the politicians of the United States and Taiwan expressed their disregard for the government of mainland China by their act.

  Fig.9 A historic moment

In addition to works reflecting and revealing political events, Badiucao also paints portraits-caricatures of people and political figures who, being opposition activists of the Chinese government, were subjected to unfair punishment in the opinion of the public.

For example, in 2017, Badiucao dedicated several works ^{[25, 47]} to the Taiwanese democratic activist Li Mingzhe ().: "li mingche " (Fig. 10) ^[25] and " " (Fig. 11) ^[47]. Li Mingzhe was detained by the Chinese authorities at the end of March 2017 on suspicion of undermining the state power of the PRC ^[38]. Lee is a former employee of the Democratic Progressive Party of Taiwan and an employee of a non–governmental organization, so this incident led to friction between the security services of Taiwan and mainland China. Previously, Li Mingzhe used social media to promote the ideas of Taiwanese democracy among "at least 100 people" in communist China. In 2017, Mr. Li went to mainland China to arrange treatment for his mother-in-law, where he was captured by the Chinese authorities, taking him under investigation on suspicion of damaging national security. According to the official representative of the Office for Taiwan Affairs at the State Council of the People's Republic of China An Fengshan, according to available information, since 2012, Li Mingzhe often traveled to mainland China, established a secret conspiracy with relevant local persons, developed an action program, founded an illegal organization, planned and carried out activities aimed at undermining state power in China ^[2].

  Fig.10 li mingche The almost complete silence of the officials on this case prompted his wife Li Jingyu to launch a public campaign to highlight the plight of her husband, who only shared his experience as an opposition activist.

At the same time, Badiucao also helps spread information about Li Mingzhe's imprisonment and paints his portrait, complementing his series of works in the form of portraits of lawyers and human rights activists detained by the police, called "Black Friday" ^[12]. So, thanks to the efforts of Ms. Li, as well as the cartoons of Badiucao, they managed to attract widespread public attention to the problem of the unfair detention of Li Mingzhe. Later, even the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, again expressed disagreement with the verdict, calling for release, saying that she could not accept the verdict because "the idea of spreading democracy is innocent" ^[39]. But despite all his efforts, Li Mingzhe was still imprisoned for five years and was officially released only on April 14, 2022 ^[35].

  Fig.11. In addition to the study of the subjects that Badyutsao reflects in his cartoons, such a means of artistic and cultural influence as the color palette, which the artist uses in almost all of his works, deserves great attention.

The red color is predominant in each of his works, with the exception of only illustrations from the series mentioned above: a series for the Winter Olympics, a series calling for the release of political figures. It is obvious that the red color in the context of Badiucao's works has two meanings at once: firstly, it symbolizes China, being one of the traditional symbols associated with the flag and traditional outfits; secondly, this particular shade of red is flashy bright, referring the viewer to something sinister and dangerous, causing he has a feeling of anxiety and anxiety. Another permanent color in cartoons dedicated to the PRC is black. As Badiucao says: "The colors of China are only black and red. Red is blood, fear and violence. Black is iron, frosty nights, depression, despair and silent corners. This is a cloth gag covering screams" ^[13].

The greatest stylistic influence on the work of Badiucao was exerted by the German artist, graphic artist and sculptor K?the Kollwitz (German: K?the Kollwitz, 1867-1945), one of the most prominent representatives of German expressionism and socialist realism of the early XX century. According to him, Kollwitz is the strongest woman he has ever seen, she makes him think about his mother ^[13]. As in the Kollwitz graphics, Badiucao's works do not convey the portrait accuracy of people, but with their grotesqueness they serve to convey the negativity that the artist feels towards them.

Another source of his creative development, Badiucao calls the works of the "black period" of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya (1746-1828) ^[13], consistent with the political instability of Spain at the end of the XVIII century. The satirical embodiment of the plots, the grotesque depiction of people – apparently the themes and palette of the paintings of the great Spaniard became the inspiration for the Chinese cartoonist of our time. Like Goya, in his works Badiucao shows the repulsive sides of the PRC's policy with maximum honesty and realism.

The main role in the formation of the concept of "courage" and the view of China, Badiucao gives to the works of art and documentaries of a modern Chinese artist, a rebel, a fighter against the system and one of the most influential people in the world according to the Times magazine Ai Weiwei (). "His personal experience, civil investigations and artistic works have played an irreplaceable role in my understanding of the realities of modern China," says Badiucao ^[13].

Summing up the results of the study, we can conclude that Badiucao defies censorship and dictatorship of the PRC with his art, being a bright dissident, an opponent of its political course. To date, he has become one of the most popular artists covering the conflict between mainland China and Taiwan. The aim pursued by the artist is to publicize the main problems and failures of the political system of the PRC. The art of Badiucao is his main and strongest weapon in this confrontation, his works and exhibitions are now known in many countries. It is thanks to his cartoons that most of the conflicts within the country become known to the world, which makes it possible, even if not always to settle them, but at least draws public attention to these problems, thus preventing an unfair solution to the situation. In addition, Badiucao is also quite an initiative activist. Using a wide range of artistic means and a color palette, he talks about current events, does not allow you to forget the sins of the past, demanding not so much an apology for political mistakes as a change in the attitude of the government towards the people of the two coasts – China and Taiwan. Thus, the cartoonist managed not only to create his own creative direction for the protection of human rights, but also to share the truth about the events taking place, honoring their victims.

^[1] Vaclav Havel Award for Creative Dissent The award was established in 2012 by the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), awarded to persons "who creatively disagree, show courage and creativity to challenge injustice and live the truth" [The Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent // Human Rights Foundation. – Apr. 11, 2012. – Access mode: http://humanrightsfoundation.org/news/the-vaclav-havel-prize-for-creative-dissent-0069 ].

^[2] Different sources indicate a different year, the exact date is unknown.

^[3] Different sources give different names, in the description of the illustrations, the name from Twitter will be used in the future, since we consider it to be the primary source of the artist's works.