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Wuheqilin

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Wuheqilin
Born
Fu Yu (付昱)

(1988-07-22) 22 July 1988 (age 36)
NationalityChina
OccupationArtist

Fu Yu (Chinese: 付昱; born 22 July 1988), known professionally as Wuheqilin (Chinese: 乌合麒麟; pinyin: Wū Hé Qí Lín; lit. 'Rabble Qilin') is a Chinese illustrator and political cartoonist. His hometown is Harbin. He claims himself as a "Wolf warrior painter" and is famous in China for his artwork Peace Force (Chinese: 《和平之师》), which depicts an Australian soldier killing an Afghan child.[1][2][3]

Biography

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Since his grandparents were soldiers in the Korean War, Wuheqilin became a party loyalist when he was young. After graduating from a university in Changchun with a degree in art and design, Wuheqilin served as an intern in an animation and film production company in Beijing in 2009. Later, a director left the company and created his own studio, with whom Wuheqilin worked in Zhongguancun. At the end of 2013, he was invited to Shanghai Film Art Academy (zh:上海电影艺术学院) to give a lecture on computer graphics, and started a painting training institute called "Wuhe" in early 2014.[4]

After Chinese consumers started threatening to boycott H&M, Nike and other brands that have joined a call to avoid using cotton produced in Xinjiang,[5] Wuheqilin published his new artwork Blood Cotton Initiative to criticize the Better Cotton Initiative.[6]

Significant works

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A dispute between China and Australia arose in 2020 when a member of China's foreign ministry posted online a picture of Wuheqilin's image Peace Force, which depicts an Australian soldier preparing to slit an Afghan child's throat.[7] The image is a reference to the Brereton Report, which exposed the murder of more than three dozen Afghan civilians by Australian troops.[7] Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an apology, which China declined to give.[7] Wuheqilin then created another image mocking Morrison.[7]

After the May 2021 Group of Seven (G7) Foreign Ministers meeting, Wuheqilin created an image satirizing a photograph of G7 officials by portraying them in old-style military uniforms.[7] Wuheqilin wrote, "The last time when these guys colluded to [suppress] China was in 1900; 120 years have passed, they are still dreaming."[7] The image went viral on social media.[7]

Reception

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Academic Suisheng Zhao describes Wuheqilin as having made his reputation "with his scathing images of the United States as a blood-soaked, irrational, medieval realm[.]"[7]

Following Wuheqilin's image satirizing the G7 Foreign Ministers, Chinese Communist Party-owned tabloid Global Times praised Wuheqilin as a Chinese patriot.[7]

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References

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  1. ^ Woo, Ryan (2020-12-02). "'Wolf warrior' artist turns new chapter in Chinese propaganda artwork". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
  2. ^ "Chinese artist depicts Justin Trudeau as sexy supervillain Harley Quinn". South China Morning Post. 2021-02-06. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
  3. ^ 顾铭 (ed.). "澳大利亚总理"要求中国道歉"!讽刺澳军漫画作者乌合麒麟:有空再画一张" [Australian Prime Minister "demands an apology from China"! Satire the author of the Australian army cartoon Wu He Qilin: I will draw another one when I have time]. 上海热线 (news.online.sh.cn). 环球网资讯. Archived from the original on 2021-01-31. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  4. ^ "讽刺漫画家乌合麒麟照片资料简介" [Caricature artist Wuhe Qilin photo profile]. 兵马俑在线 (www.wmxa.cn).
  5. ^ Wee, Sui-Lee; Bradsher, Keith (25 March 2021). "Why Are China's Consumers Threatening to Boycott H&M and Other Brands?". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  6. ^ "新疆棉花|「戰狼畫手」烏合麒麟新作諷刺BCI 圖中隱藏H&M、Nike" [Xinjiang Cotton|"Wolf Warrior Painter" Wuhe Kirin's new work satirizes BCI with H&M and Nike hidden in the picture]. www.hk01.com.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zhao, Suisheng (2023). The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 169–170. doi:10.1515/9781503634152. ISBN 978-1-5036-3088-8. OCLC 1331741429.
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  • Media related to Wuheqilin at Wikimedia Commons