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Stephy Chung

 

Is Ai Weiwei too controversial for Hong Kong? 

Major new art museum tests the limits of censorship

 

When plans for M+ were unveiled over a decade ago, many in China's art world breathed a sigh of relief. The Hong Kong museum could, they hoped, provide a safe space for the types of risqué, politically charged artworks that were impossible to show in the heavily censored galleries of Beijing
and Shanghai.

But as it finally opens its doors to the public Friday, the multibillion-dollar institution finds itself in a far more complicated position.

Since the introduction of last year's controversial National Security Law, which criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, Hong Kong has undergone a marked cultural and political shift. Critics allege the wide-ranging legislation has been used to stifle dissent and clamp down on free expression.

But while the red lines denoting what is tolerated in mainland China are relatively well understood — in the art world, at least — in Hong Kong, they appear to be continually shifting as artists and galleries navigate the new law.

Just last month, the University of Hong Kong ordered the removal of its famous "Pillar of Shame" sculpture, memorializing victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, from its campus. In October, a new film censorship law was passed, while reports of galleries and institutions keeping sensitive artworks from display have become commonplace.

Long touted as the region's equivalent to London's Tate Modern or New York's MoMA, M+ will showcase items from a vast 8,000-item collection, including a trove of more than 1,500 Chinese contemporary artworks, about two dozen of which are by dissident artist Ai Weiwei.

As a government-backed institution, it is a high-profile test of the city's artistic and curatorial freedoms. But the question for those visiting the museum this weekend may not only be what is on display, but what is not.

Of the six opening exhibitions, "M+ Sigg Collection: From Revolution to Globalisation" has raised the most difficult questions for curators and politicians alike. A landmark donation and part-sale by renowned collector and former ambassador to China, Uli Sigg, the wider collection contains various images that would be considered off-limits for galleries in the mainland.

In particular, a 1997 photograph of Ai Weiwei raising a middle finger to Tiananmen Square was embroiled in controversy earlier this year, when the image was removed from the museum's website. The provocative photo contributed to a larger conversation about censorship fears, after Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told culture officials to be "extra cautious" that M+ does not cross an unspecified "red line."

The opening display, which shows over 200 items from the collection, is nonetheless expansive, charting the emergence of contemporary art in China through movements like the avant-garde '85 new wave and Cynical Realism.

 

Wang Xingwei's "New Beijing" feels especially confrontational in the current climate — a satirical oil painting showing bloodied emperor penguins lying on a cart, a thinly veiled allusion to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and the deaths of pro-democracy protesters.

Subversive portraits of former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong also appear throughout, as do videos of closed-door art performances and underground exhibitions tackling taboo subjects such as nudity and free speech.

Ai's middle finger is nowhere to be seen, but two of his works do appear: an installation of earthenware jars and a 2004 video capturing Beijing's Chang'an Boulevard, the street running from east to west via rural villages, the capital's business district and right through the heart of government power.

Despite the political pressures, Sigg told CNN that M+ was still the best home for his collection, which he always believed should be displayed in China, if not the mainland.

"I still think that's the way: The Chinese people can now or eventually can see their art, which they're not so familiar with yet," he said over the phone. "Maybe today we cannot show everything, but one day I am sure that whole collection can be shown. It's for the long haul, in my view."

Sigg co-curated the opening selection, a list of artworks he said predates the National Security Law. "For me, it was an important test that the list would be respected, and these works would be shown," he said, adding that none of his original choices were removed.

Elsewhere, a large-scale installation by celebrated British sculptor Antony Gormley, artworks from across Asia and an exhibition on design and architecture demonstrate that the museum's ambitions stretch beyond the hotly-debated Sigg Collection. And while a political cloud hangs over the opening, excitement around M+ is tangible in the art world and beyond.

"In New York, in London, we see what international standards mean," said independent curator Ying Kwok, who has worked extensively with local artists, adding: "I think it's very important in the art scene, if there's a role model, a target that you can look up to."

 

— By Stephy Chung, CNN Style Asia Editor

Xi has cemented his power in China. Now he's ready to meet Biden virtually

 

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has further cemented his power at a key meeting of the Communist Party elite, overseeing the passing of a landmark resolution that paves the way for him to secure a third term in office.

 

Senior officials on Thursday approved a resolution on the party's "major achievements and historic experiences" since its founding 100 years ago, placing Xi on the same pedestal as the nation's founding father Mao Zedong and reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, who unleashed an economic boom that turned China into the world's second-largest economy.

 

And with this elevated stature and undisputed authority within the authoritarian, one-party state now established, Xi is preparing to sit down with his American counterpart Joe Biden in a virtual meeting Monday — the first between the two leaders since Biden became President in January.

 

By consolidating his position at home and attempting to build bridges with Biden, Xi is hoping to smooth a path to next year's 20th Party Congress, during which he is expected to claim a third term — extending his time in office by at least another five years.

 

The scheduled talks between the two leaders Biden come amid intensifying competition between the two superpowers across a number of fronts, as well as China's deteriorating relations with much of the developed world and a growing list of its neighbors.

 

On Thursday, Xi warned Asia-Pacific nations against a return to Cold War-era tensions, in a veiled reference to the Biden administration's efforts to rally allies and partners in the region to confront Beijing's rising influence.

 

"The Asia-Pacific region cannot and should not relapse into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era," Xi told the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in a recorded video. "Attempts to draw ideological lines or form small circles on geopolitical grounds are bound to fail," he said.

 

Xi has built his domestic legitimacy around a vision of "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," which vows to restore China to its ancient glories and rightful place on the world stage.

 

Since the pandemic, the Chinese leader has doubled down on a narrative that "the East is rising and the West is falling," touting an "unprecedented window of opportunity" for China to catch up with — if not surpass — the West in national strength.

 

And the historic resolution adopted at the party's plenum this week has anointed him with the legitimacy as the only leader supposedly capable of steering China to achieve that ambition.

 

Under Xi, the meeting's communique says, China has "made historic achievements and undergone historic transformations," solving tough problems and accomplishing grand things that were long on the agenda of his predecessors but could never get done.

 

The communique did not address any of the many complex challenges faced by Xi's administration, from a looming demographic crisis and slowing economy to Beijing's plummeting international image over its harsh crackdowns on Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, military posturing toward the self-governing island of Taiwan, and an increasingly assertive foreign policy.

 

Instead, it heaped glowing praise on the perceived progress made under Xi's leadership, from what it characterized as the elimination of poverty and containment of Covid-19, to reshaping ideology, modernizing the military and lifting China's global influence.

 

In the communique, Xi is portrayed as an epoch-making leader alongside Mao and Deng, the only other two Chinese leaders who had put forward such resolutions. Under Mao, Deng and now Xi, the Chinese nation has "ushered in a great leap from standing up and getting rich to becoming strong," it said.

 

"He wants to really highlight his own contribution to the development of the party, that also will seal his legitimate rule over China in the foreseeable future," said Victor Shih, an expert on elite Chinese politics at the University of California, San Diego. "Then of course, no one would challenge his power within the party."

 

The communique, however, also left out any mention of the party's past mistakes, including a deadly famine and a decade of political and social turmoil unleashed by Mao — disasters partly caused by the fervent cult of personality surrounding him.

 

After decades of collective leadership following Mao's death, Xi has returned, at least in part, to the one-man rule of the Mao era.

 

"Now we are back to the strongman politics," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor of political science at Hong Kong Baptist University.

 

"The danger, of course, (is to rely) on one person to make decisions, but also rely on his health, on his own character to decide about the future of a nation of 1.4 billion people," he said.

 

And when there's only one person in power, there's just one person to blame when things go wrong.

Scenes behind Singles Day

Employees work overtime to pack and deliver goods at a warehouse of e-commerce firm Dangdang in Meishan city, China's Sichuan province on Thursday. Singles Day originated in China in the 1990s as an unofficial holiday to celebrate people who are not in relationships. But it has since grown to become the world's biggest shopping event.

Alibaba reported another year of record sales figures for Singles Day, the world's largest annual shopping event. 

 

But its momentum is seriously slowing down as China's economy weakens and as Beijing has tightened its grip on the tech industry. 

 

Alibaba said that total gross merchandise volume (GMV) reached 540.3 billion yuan ($84.5 billion) through the first 11 days of November, culminating in the holiday on Thursday. That's an increase of 8.5% from a year ago — far lower than the top end of a forecast recently given by analysts at Citi, who expected as much as a 15% increase, or 578 billion yuan ($90 billion). It's also a big slowdown from the 26% jump Alibaba posted last year, compared to 2019. 

 

Smaller rival JD.com fared better, recording 349.1 billion yuan ($54.6 billion) in sales by GMV. That was up 28.6% from a year ago — though still slower than the 33% growth rate it hit last year. 

 

Consumer sentiment may be taking a hit because of headwinds facing China's economy. GDP is growing at the slowest pace in a year as energy woes, shipping disruptions and a deepening property crisis take their toll on the world's second largest economy.

 

Inflation, meanwhile, has risen, which threatens to erode profit margins and the purchasing power held by consumers.

 

The cost of goods leaving China's factories surged by another record rate last month — China's Producer Price Index jumped 13.5% in October from a year ago — and there are now signs that the higher costs are trickling down.

 

China's Consumer Price Index rose 1.5% in October from a year ago, double the rate of the previous month and the fastest pace of increase since September 2020.

 

Increased tech scrutiny from Beijing also cast a shadow over this year's Singles Day.

 

Beijing last year launched sweeping campaign against a wide range of industries, and e-commerce firms have been under particularly harsh scrutiny. 

 

Alibaba was hit earlier this year with a record $2.8 billion fine for behaving like a monopoly. JD.com, Tencent, Pinduoduo, and other companies have also been investigated or fined over alleged anti-competitive behavior.

 

Singles Day has entered Beijing's sights, too. Last week, regulators warned e-commerce platforms against marketing spam via text messages during the holiday shopping period.

 

Alibaba and JD.com toned down the shopping event somewhat this year and placed their focus on supporting government initiatives intended to boost social equality or to reduce carbon emissions. Both issues are among President Xi Jinping's top policy goals.

Around Asia

• A military court in Myanmar has sentenced American journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison, his lawyer said Friday. The 37-year-old from Detroit, Michigan, has been detained for more than five months.

• A Hong Kong activist dubbed "Captain America 2.0" for wielding the superhero's shield at pro-democracy protests was jailed for nearly six years on Thursday under a national security law, after a court ruled he promoted independence from China.

• Heavy rains across southern India and Sri Lanka have killed at least 41 people, authorities said on Thursday, with weather forecasters expecting the downpours to ease in the next few days as stricken communities pumped out the deluge.