Artist Gao Zhen, detained in China, is in poor health

The artist Gao Zhen, one half of the Gao Brothers, is in failing health after being imprisoned in China for more than a year, Human Rights Watch has said while calling for his release.

Gao, a 69-year-old permanent resident of the United States, was detained on August 26, 2024, while traveling in China with his wife and son. His wife and his seven-year-old son, a natural-born U.S. citizen, have been prevented from leaving China.

The artist has been charged with “slandering China’s heroes and martyrs” under a 2021 law for sculptures he made of Mao Zedong more than a decade ago. If convicted, Gao faces a sentence of up to three years in prison.

After his arrest, police in the city of Sanhe raided his studio and confiscated some 118 artworks, carting them away in as many as seven trucks, his family said on Facebook in November 2024.

But more than a year since his detention, Gao has still not faced trial. Gao’s family has advised the human rights watchdog that he is known to have fainted in September and that his health is failing.

After he fainted, a jail doctor said Gao may have arteriosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries, which may put him at risk for a stroke. The artist also reportedly suffers from a chronic back problem and had to sit in a wheelchair in previous meetings with his lawyer. But Chinese authorities have denied his application for medical bail.

“The Chinese government should drop the baseless charges against the artist Gao Zhen and allow him and his family to return to the United States,” Human Rights Watch said in early October.

The statement from Human Rights Watch came weeks before it was revealed that President Donald Trump would be meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. In its statement, the organization criticized the Chinese government under Xi for cracking down on speech deemed “unpatriotic.”

“Gao Zhen was merely fulfilling his duty as an artist. Art is not a crime. Mao is not a hero or martyr,” his family said in a statement Tuesday. “We call on the Sanhe City authorities to immediately release Gao Zhen and his family. Stop bringing shame upon China.”