At last month's Sh Contemporary art fair in Shanghai, the city's Cultural Bureau asked for one work to be taken down, a photomontage by Chi Peng of a gorilla looming over Tiananmen Square, on the stand of M97, a Shanghai-based gallery specialising in Chinese photography. Slightly later, an official came round and thanked Steven Harris, the gallery owner, very politely for having co-operated and said that it was a sensitive time, what with the 18th Party Congress and a new leader emerging. He went on to say, however, that he was pleased that it was a friend of his, another official, who was buying the work for $35,000.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as ‘Censorship in Shanghai'
