Xiaoliang, the artist who did this warm digital rendering of Peng Lifa based on a photograph, is reportedly himself in trouble. This now famous picture, posted on Oct 15, was his last post.
He is said to be in detention for "picking quarrels and making trouble"
Xiao Liang, an artist from Nanchang, was arrested.
Xiao Liang's Twitter account contains some beautiful digital renderings of famous people and interesting faces.
Xiao Liang's support for Ukraine, which conflicts with Beijing's policy, and his opposition to Russian invasion, which Beijing has yet to acknowledge, is plain to see.
As with the now-famous portrait of the unknown hero of Sitong Bridge, Peng Lifa, this familiar face, a much better known hero, is rendered in warm, emotional tones.
@Euan_MacDonald @maria_avdv @TpyxaNews @Billbrowder @TimothyDSnyder @Kasparov63
@IAPonomarenko
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Another lovely portrait. There are many more, and some of them just go to prove that politics makes for strange bedfellows.
But here's hoping the artist, who was, from within the confines of unfree China trying to understand the world outside, is released from detention.
And it's somehow fitting this day that Jimmy Lai, who just got slapped with over five years in jail (technically for lease technicalities) but everyone knows it's about free expression, was portrayed by Xiao Liang in 2020.
Take a look at Xiao Liang's Twitter account in case it gets taken down, as was the case with Peng Lifa
Xiao retweets numerous archly conservative posts about the US, and does some US portraits, too, but one suspects something was lost in translation.
Lots of cute cat pics, too
Many of his retweets were animal shots...
Xiao also showed a strong curiosity about politics...ranging from Soviet seizure of Chinese territory, to Hong Kong's basic law, to US domestic mayhem to historic figures like MacArthur...
Unusual for a citizen of China where anti-Japan movies are regular entertainment, he expressed sadness at Abe's death, sympathy for his wife, and rendered a digitized portrait of the fallen Japanese leader.
He was also curious about life in Japan and was impressed at the good manners, with a video vignette of a Japanese mother rushing to the school bus and bowing to greet it.
He retweeted a story about Li Rui, Mao's former secretary who later fell out with the CCP brass, and some negative posts about Mao.
He reposted material about Huawei's Meng Wanzhou and her father Ren Zhengfei; apparently not a fan.
He retweeted stories about human rights abuses in Burma and also stories of police bullying in China. In the still from the video on the right, the woman in red is tackled and detained for not wearing a mask.
His digital portraiture included various art teachers, writers and some rather controversial Americans. ;-)
Like any Twitter account used to scan information from a variety of sources outside the firewall, he retweeted all kinds of things. His "retweets" don't necessarily tell us what he thought, but are rather an indication of things that perked his interest.
Phil Cunningham
@jinpeili
Reminiscent of Peng Lifa, whose portrait he so brilliantly rendered, Xiao Liang's Twitter record is a mix of sweet and silly shots cut with hard politics and human rights commentary.
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