Chinese artist detained over decade-old works in heroes law crackdown

Gao Zhen’s detention has become a stark warning that in China, older art can be pulled back into the courtroom years later. The 69-year-old artist and U.S. permanent resident was taken into custody on August 26, 2024, while traveling in China with his wife and son, then formally arrested on a charge of “slandering China’s heroes and martyrs,” an offense that can bring up to three years in prison.

Around 30 police officers raided Gao’s studio in Yanjiao, in Hebei province’s Sanhe City, the same day, photographed his work and confiscated and sealed sculptures and other pieces, most of them created more than a decade earlier. By November 17, 2024, Sanhe police had removed 118 works from the studio. His wife and child were also prevented from leaving China, a restriction rights groups have described as a de facto travel ban.

The case has focused attention on China’s 2018 Heroes and Martyrs Protection Act, which critics say has widened the reach of political censorship into artistic expression. Gao is best known for work made with his brother, Gao Qiang, in their Gao Brothers collaboration, which began in 1985 and repeatedly used Mao Zedong’s image in provocative ways. Their “Miss Mao” works, with satirical sculptures of Mao, became one of the best-known examples of that approach.

The prosecution has alarmed rights organizations because it appears to punish Gao for work made long before his arrest and despite his ties to the United States. Amnesty International called for his immediate and unconditional release after his formal arrest was approved. Human Rights Watch said in 2025 that Gao had been held for a year without trial. The Human Rights Foundation, in a joint statement on the first anniversary of his detention, described him as a 69-year-old U.S. permanent resident held without trial.

By April 15, 2026, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said Gao remained in detention pending judgment after a closed-door trial held on March 30, 2026. The continued detention has deepened concern that China is tightening the boundaries of permissible speech and art, and that time itself offers no protection when political winds shift.