What if thousands of people in Beijing went in search of freedom? Literally then: after the word ‘freedom’, two simple Chinese characters (自由), which are quite common in the streets of the Chinese capital, however little freedom can be found there.
And what if during that search they thought about that word: about what ‘freedom’ means to them, how it is defined by the government, how it is restricted? Wouldn’t that lead to new insights, to questions and discussions? And who knows, in the long run, until a little bit of change?
That’s what Chiang Seeta hopes, a 28-year-old artist and political activist from China, who has lived in France since 2018. At a time when freedom is under pressure all over the world, especially in China, he has launched an art project to counter it on a small scale. The project is called ‘À la recherche de liberté à Pékin’: ‘In search of freedom in Beijing.’
The idea is simple: Chiang asks Beijing residents to search their city for the word ‘freedom’ – ‘ziyou’ in spoken Chinese, take a picture of it and send it to him. Chiang collects all the photos, on a website and on a map. It should become a kind of Google Maps, on which you don’t look for the nearest McDonald’s, but the nearest ‘freedom’.
It’s about the quest
In eight months, Chiang received about 300 photos, from quick snapshots to artistic images. But for him it’s not so much about the photos as about the search for them. “What matters is the process of searching, thinking and discussing with friends,” he says. ‘My idea is: if everyone in Beijing thinks about what freedom is, then maybe the whole society will change a bit. Although that may be a very utopian idea.’
Chiang was involved in political activism in China for a long time, in the years when that was still somewhat possible. He took part in stillborn ‘Jasmine protests’ in Beijing in 2011, visited house arrest lawyer Chen Guangcheng, flirted with a Chinese opposition party in exile. He was regularly arrested, but never worried until he was charged in 2012 with ‘inciting subversion of the state’, which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years.
As a minor, he was shocked, but when he got his passport back a few years later, he decided not to stay in China. In 2018 he moved to Paris. “I thought, if I stay here long enough, I’ll get caught again anyway.”
It shows that a quest for ‘freedom’ is not without danger in China. The word itself appears frequently in the Chinese street scene: in advertisements promoting the feeling of freedom of a luxury car or air travel, and on propaganda posters of the Chinese Communist Party, which calls freedom one of the twelve socialist core values. It is about the freedom to build a socialist society.
Censored immediately
But thinking about individual freedoms and human rights is expressly not the intention. When Chiang announced his search on Chinese video sites, it was immediately censored. He then created a profile on a dating site, where he told every match about his project. “Gradually, the project became known through word of mouth,” he says. “It’s a kind of legend, something that is secretly passed on.”
The Chinese authoritarian regime has become increasingly repressive in recent years. On the Human Freedom Index, based on more than fifty indicators, including economic freedom, China ranks 150th out of 165 countries. “It’s a gradual process,” Chiang says. “The first people to be dealt with are human rights lawyers and investigative journalists, who come into direct confrontation with the regime. This is followed by artists and independent filmmakers. Many ordinary people think they have a good life in China, but it is a good life without guarantees. If you get into trouble with the government, there’s nothing you can do.’
Drawing hope from Czechoslovakia
Chiang had high hopes for France, the country of May ’68, for demonstrations and ‘freedom, equality, brotherhood’. But during Covid, France has been quick to impose restrictions on unvaccinated people, previously curtailing fundamental rights in the fight against terrorism. “Of course France is much freer than China, but it’s less ideal than I thought,” Chiang says. ‘The question of how governments stretch the limits of their power, how individual freedom can be protected and how citizens can control their governments is an issue all over the world.’
When Chiang sees the current developments in China, he sometimes feels depressed. But then he thinks of Czechoslovakia. “In 1968 the people there resisted the invasion of the Soviet Union, and in 1989 there was a Velvet Revolution. In retrospect, it all looks fantastic. But someone who lived in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s, who saw no change after 1968 and didn’t know what would happen ten years later, may have felt quite desperate. In China we had June 4, 1989, maybe we are now in our Czech seventies.’
Three participants in Chiang’s project
‘People in China tend to accept restrictions on their freedom’
Chen (24), student: ‘In my photo I played with the shape of the two characters of ‘freedom’: they are very angular, as if they limit freedom to two frames. In my photo you can see water on a sidewalk: the angular tiles look like the characters 自由, but the water flows freely through them. That to me is freedom: the ability to break through boundaries.
“People in China tend to accept restrictions on their freedom in exchange for security. This is understandable from the historical and social context. Many people have experienced hardships and are mainly concerned with livelihoods and safety. They don’t think about human rights or freedom on a spiritual level.
‘Personally I don’t like those restrictions on freedom. I grew up with influences from western culture and that may have influenced my political views. But to function in this society, I have to put myself in the logic of the people around me. I try to find common ground, with respect for the differences: a state of mutual tolerance.
‘I hope that this project will make more people think about freedom. But to be honest, when I tell my friends, they are not very interested. They have a good life, and that’s enough for them.’
‘Due to the censorship, many people think they are alone with their opinion’
Li (22), artist: ‘In Beijing there is a great paradox: there is no freedom, but you see the word everywhere on the street. It is printed on large CCP propaganda posters. I took a picture of such a poster near my house. I didn’t have to search long.
‘I have seen how freedom has shrunk in China. I was born in the late 1990s, but a lot has changed since Xi came to power. Until five years ago I made reasonable political art. It was okay to post that on social media. If I do that now, it will be censored immediately.
‘I often attend book fairs. Until two or three years ago you could still express things there that fall outside the norm. But this year I was at a trade show in Shanghai and government officials were checking the books. Many exhibitors had already self-censored, but were sent home anyway. After the first day there were many empty tables.
‘Due to the censorship, many people think they are alone with their opinion. That they are the only ones who don’t agree with the policy. This project can encourage people and let them know that they are not alone. It’s hard to resist when you’re alone.’
‘I experienced first-hand how important freedom is for this country’
Hu Jia (48), activist: ‘My participation in this art project is coincidental. The artist saw that I had tagged the location of my neighborhood on social media: Bobo Freedom City. He asked me to take a picture of the name. I enjoyed doing that.
‘I came to live here in 2004, because of the word ‘freedom’. In 2003, I was beaten by the authorities for trying to commemorate ‘4 June’ in Tiananmen Square. To avoid the police, I decided to move to another part of the city. When I saw the name of this neighborhood, I was immediately sold.
‘In 2003, this was the only neighborhood in Beijing with ‘freedom’ in its name. That word is quite sensitive to the Chinese government. But putting the word “Bobo” in front of it made it acceptable. ‘Bobo’ stands for ‘bourgeois-bohemian’, a popular lifestyle among young people.
“Freedom is my life, especially in this country, where we all lack freedom. I was imprisoned for fighting for freedom. I have personally experienced how important freedom is to this country.
“After the artist asked me to take a picture of my neighborhood online, the police came and asked me what that meant. It shows how sensitive everything is about the word ‘freedom’ in China. If those two characters appear, it could be against the government or destabilize society.
“A few weeks ago, the Beijing government decided that the name of my district is no longer allowed. They said neighborhood names should show unity, and Bobo Freedom City is too weird. The nameplate shown in my photo has been removed. It’s an empty place now.’