Cartoonist arrested for “Insulting China”

Zhang Dongning, a 22-year-old female cartoonist, was arrested on July 28 for “Insulting China.” Zhang used the “pig-head human” cartoons to satirize Shandong University’s policy of providing female companions for international students, pro-Party trolls, veterans begging for food while petitioning, and the uncivilized behavior of Chinese people abroad, etc. A series of over three hundred cartoons were created by Zhang and published on various online platforms domestically and abroad. The police alleged those cartoons were “vicious attacks on the Chinese nation and all Chinese people,” “seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese nation, trampled on national dignity, and had a very negative social impact.” They arrested Zhang to “prevent her from continuing her related criminal activities and to purify the online space.”