China
Nevertheless, xi persisted:
Graffiti with Chinese Characteristics
Government and Media
China is the fourth largest country in the world with one of the largest populations, which will soon reach 1.4 billion people. The country is controlled entirely by an authoritarian, one-party government—the Communist Party of China, or CPC. The CPC recognizes eight democratic political parties and allows them a consultative position, facilitating the CPC to keep a pulse on the issues important to non-party citizens. The CPC controls all aspects of the government, has around 80 million members, and answers to no other entity—it controls the military, government and all administration.[1] This inherently means that whoever rules the communist party also controls the government and military; Xi Jinping successfully eliminated any threat to his position by having the People’s Congress eliminate term limits in the Constitution effective February 2018.[2]
This consolidation of power enables a hierarchy that mobilizes the population and changes policy quickly, but also stifles any challenge to CPC legitimacy and power. Beijing, the capital of China, will have a population of more than 21 million people by 2016, according to the China Daily, the state-controlled English media outlet.[3] Recently, the government put a ceiling on the population of Beijing, providing evidence of the precise planning the CPC uses to ensure security and control. The ability to not only control population size in the country’s capital but also the dialogue of expression in China rests solely within the confines of CPC policy making. The state-controlled media allows the CPC to propagate information favorable to its motives and vision for China and create the illusion of influencing perceptions at home and abroad.[4] Anything the CPC deems unfavorable is often omitted entirely or written in a positive light.
Freedom of Expression
The demographics in China seem to play a large role in the amount of graffiti that was found in Beijing. A majority of the Chinese population lives in the urban centers close to the coast, and most of the population (48.51%) is between ages 25-54.[5] This may not seem significant, but this age range is typically working thus making it difficult to create graffiti. Also, the state-controlled security apparatus ensures that the collective mindset is respected and maintained, despite its diverse and large population; China spends more on internal security than it does on defense.[6] An example of this is the merit system that the CPC and PRC are wanting to implement. This seemingly benign merit system may seem like a healthy way to improve cultural perception and boost a positive public image of the Chinese during their economic expansion, especially with the Belt Road Initiative, but from a security stand-point it is a way to monitor people and ensure misbehavior is discouraged and citizens enforce this by monitoring each other.[7] This mentality, very particular to China, inhibits all expression of political dissent by any age group.
Government-sponsored messages as urban art
Typically, the sparse graffiti found in Beijing were tags and not political messages. These were written in Chinese or Roman characters, usually in subway and rail station tunnels and were hard to access. Many messages that could be viewed as opinionated correlated to environmental issues such as pollution. The other subtle graffiti that was found seemed more artistic and symbolic than any type of political angst expressed through graffiti. The Chinese government harnesses power to control dialogue in everyday life, as evidenced by television clips, on state-run television, promoting “urban art.” The art is encouraged in a controlled environment like a studio vice a nefarious activity carried out under cover of darkness. The artistic expression of urban art has a very different spin to why it is encouraged compared to other countries—in China these studios are not to express political messages bur rather to showcase a form of art for an economy that has purchasing power and views art as another avenue to obtain a status symbol. This western form of urban art is seen as entering an economic class with disposable income and not a political statement. The CPC has ingeniously navigated urban art away from being a form of political dissent.
Freedom House Report
Freedom House reports annually on each country according to civil and political freedoms thereby providing an aggregate score to determine whether a country is “free” or not. China is not considered free, and under Xi Jinping political and civil liberties have only become more repressed.[8] In fact, according to this report, it is one of the least free countries, with an aggregate score of 14 out of 100. On a scale of 1 to 7, with 1 being the “most free” and 7 being the “least free,” China scored a 6/7 on civil freedoms and a 7/7 on political freedoms. The gauges that contribute to this report are broken down into smaller units that rank China by categories of basic political and civil freedoms. The report supports the reality that despite a growing economy, China has remained and continues its path of authoritarianism. The freedoms that are experienced by Chinese that can travel or live abroad are often repressed by the government upon their return, thereby creating a potentially disruptive security environment. This explains, to an extent, why the CPC and PRC spend so much on internal security, more specifically now targeting social media and cyber communication. Internet access, social media platforms and media outlets are all controlled either directly by the CPC, or by proxy through State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs) that must answer to the CPC that enable their existence.
Graffiti from China
Pictured below are some of the most intriguing pieces of graffiti the cohort found while living in Beijing. Please click the button below to proceed to the complete repository of Chinese graffiti.
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
 |
References
References
[1] Wen, L., & Chen, J. (2014). Contemporary China's Politics.Beijing: Intercontinental Press.
[2]CPC proposes change on Chinese president's term in Constitution.(2018, February 25). Retrieved from Xinhua: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-02/25/c_136998770.htm
[3] Beijing sets population ceiling of 23 million.(2016, January 23). Retrieved from China Daily: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-01/23/content_23215065.htm
[4] English News Brief on Presidential Term Change Angers Leaders.(2018, March 1). Retrieved from China Media Project: http://chinamediaproject.org/2018/03/01/english-news-brief-on-term-limit-change-angers-party-leaders/
[5] China. (2018, May 1). Retrieved from Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html
[6] Bandurski, D. (2012, March 7). Making sense of China’s “public safety” spending.Retrieved from China Media Project: http://chinamediaproject.org/2012/03/07/making-sense-of-chinas-public-safety-spending/
[7] (2018).China and the Age of Strategic Rivalry.Canada: Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
[8] China.(2018). Retrieved from Freedom House : https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2018/china