Under Xi Jinping’s Rule, Even Drawing a Pig’s Head Can Land You in Prison

A post-90s girl, Zhang Dongning, created the “pig-head human-body” series of comics with her brush and was twice imprisoned by the CCP on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” (Online image)

[People News] In the era of Xi Jinping’s rule, the space for speech in China has been compressed to a suffocating degree. A young woman born in the 1990s, Zhang Dongning, was twice thrown into prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” simply for using her brush to create a series of “pig-head human-body” comics that satirized social hot issues and current politics, serving a total of two years in prison. This is not an isolated case, but a typical microcosm of this regime’s zero tolerance for dissent: even drawing pigs can lead to jail, fully revealing its fragility and absurdity.

Zhang Dongning, born in 1997 in Huainan, Anhui, loved drawing from an early age and once went to Japan to create art. Using the artistic form of “pig-head human-body,” she created more than 300 comics, employing animal imagery to allude to real-world abuses of power, social injustice, and hot-button events. These works sparked widespread discussion online, but also struck a nerve with the authorities. In May 2019, shortly after returning to China from Japan on a tourist visa, she was arrested by Huainan police. Authorities accused her comics of “deliberately distorting Chinese history,” “uglying the image of Chinese people,” and “insulting China,” even labeling her as a “Japan worshipper.” In July of the same year, she was formally arrested and ultimately sentenced to one year in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble,” and was released in May 2020.

Only half a year after her release, in November 2020, Zhang Dongning was again arrested for commenting on the “Jiang Ge case”—expressing her views in comic form. The court once again sentenced her to one year of fixed-term imprisonment on the same charge, and she was not released until November 2021. Both imprisonments stemmed from her words and her drawings. Her works never involved violence or direct calls to action, yet were interpreted as “vicious attacks on the Chinese nation,” fully demonstrating the authorities’ extreme hostility toward satirical art.

Zhang Dongning’s experience is not unique. Under Xi Jinping’s rule, the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” has become a notorious “catch-all crime,” widely abused to suppress any voice of dissatisfaction. Similar cases abound:

Around 2019, authorities carried out concentrated arrests of individuals accused of being “Japan worshippers” or “insulting China.” Around the same time as Zhang Dongning’s case, a person surnamed Lu, who posted her comics, was also arrested, with charges likewise involving online “insulting China.”

A Shandong netizen, Wang Jiangfeng, was sentenced to 22 months in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” simply for jokingly referring to leaders as “Xi Baozi” and “Mao the thief” in a chat group.

Countless ordinary netizens have been administratively detained or criminally prosecuted for forwarding or creating images related to “Winnie the Pooh”—a satirical allusion to a leader’s image. Winnie the Pooh was originally a harmless cartoon character, yet it has become a taboo symbol; once related memes circulate, they may prompt police to come knocking.

Broader examples include citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who was sentenced to four years for reporting on the Wuhan epidemic, and rights activists Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi, who received heavy sentences for peacefully calling for democracy—all falling under the scope of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” or similar catch-all crimes.

The absurdity of the crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” lies in its extreme vagueness and elasticity. Originally, this charge evolved from the “hooliganism” offense in the 1979 Criminal Law, intended to punish street fights, wanton destruction of property, and other acts disrupting public order. However, judicial interpretations issued in 2013 by the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate extended it to the online realm: anyone who “insults or threatens others” online or spreads “false information,” if the “circumstances are serious” or cause “serious negative social impact,” may be convicted. The problem is: what counts as an “insult”? What counts as a “serious negative impact”? It is entirely up to law enforcement. There are no clear standards and no objective boundaries—power can stuff anything it wants into this “big pocket.”

Such abuse directly tramples on the freedom of speech guaranteed by Article 35 of China’s Constitution and the freedom of artistic creation guaranteed by Article 47. Satirical art has always been a universal way for humans to express dissatisfaction, from ancient times to the present, from Jonathan Swift to modern political cartoons. Yet in today’s China, even the metaphor of a pig-head human-body becomes a grave crime of “attacking the Chinese nation.” This is not only absurd; it also exposes the regime’s extreme lack of confidence: it fears any mirror, fears the public seeing the ugliness of reality through art.

Zhang Dongning’s two arrests immediately after returning from overseas also sound an alarm for all overseas Chinese: in this era, returning home may mean losing one’s freedom. Supporting Zhang Dongning is not merely about sympathizing with an individual, but about supporting ourselves—supporting the right of expression that should belong to everyone. A tyranny that cannot tolerate a young woman’s free drawing and painting—how can it last? Only by overthrowing this authoritarian control that uses “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” as a tool can speech and art truly be free.

(Author’s X account)

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