China Heritage foreshadows the 2019-2020 Year of the Pig 己亥豬年 with a New Year’s card designed by Callum Smith. Here, we use the sheathed bronze Pig’s head from Ai Weiwei’s ‘Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads’ to:
- Reflect on the mainland Chinese regime of censorship and guided opinion that enters its seventieth year in 2019;
- Recall the detention of the artist-writer Ai Weiwei in 2011 (see A View on Ai Weiwei’s Exit) and the plight of victims of state repression;
- Remember people in- and outside China who, through their words and deeds, reject attempts to 鉗口結舌 qián kǒu jié shé — ‘seal mouths and knot tongues’; and,
- Reconsider 2019, a year of historical commemoration, anniversaries and mourning.
It also:
- Celebrates our collaboration with the New York-based artist Lois Conner, whose work appears on the masthead of China Heritage and elsewhere on this site; and,
- Hints at our work on the Garden of Perfect Brightness 圓明園, which features in China Heritage Annual 2019: Translatio Imperii Sinici.
— Geremie R. Barmé,
Editor, China Heritage
The Last Day of
The Last Month of
The 2018-2019
Year of the Dog
戊戌年臘月三十
