Zhang Jianhua's sculptures of coal miners ruffle Chinese censors
By Howard W. French


BEIJING: It is not easy to forget an encounter with Zhang Jianhua's sculptures of Chinese coal miners; that is, if one is lucky enough to see them.

Many of the life-size works depict miners sitting on the ground in their black rubber boots wearing looks of sheer fatigue. Some stare blankly into the distance or prop up their heads with both hands, their faces fixed in nameless agony.

Yet, easily overlooked at first are the most haunting sculptures of all. At the edge of the out-of-the-way Beijing lot in a newly created art zone that is frequented by foreigners - but few Chinese - lie six figures shrouded in green blankets. Silently, they symbolize the largely anonymous victims of China's rolling mine-worker catastrophe.

Although Zhang, 35, has an impeccable background as a student of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and has received critical praise for years, no Chinese museum or established gallery has been willing to display his coal miner work in its entirety, as he insists they must.

Officially, 4,794 coal miners died in work-related accidents in China last year - more than 13 every day, on average, though many believe the official figures understate the real toll. But Zhang's temerity in representing the victims has won his work what might be called a soft ban.

"Each year, countless coal accidents take place," he said. "The media puts the death toll at six to seven thousand, but I know the numbers don't stop there. There are between 20 and 30 thousand deaths a year, but those who die at many illegal mines are not counted, and these deaths are not allowed to be reported."

The artist grew particularly animated as he described the scenes of lavish weddings organized for the daughters of coal mine owners in Datong, one of China's most famous mining towns, of motorcades of stretched Cadillacs and Hummers and Mercedes-Benzes, festively honking their horns. "This is the kind of ostentation they want," he said. "Yet underneath the wheels are piles of white bones and pools of fresh blood."

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