Chinese officials help to cultivate a local graffiti scene

IN THE MID-1990s outlines of bulbous heads, spray-painted with a single swipe, began to appear on Beijing’s walls. Next to them was written “AK-47”. This tag, as graffitied signatures are known, belonged to Zhang Dali, an art student who had spent time in Italy and discovered graffiti culture there. On his return to China, swathes of its cities were being razed to make way for development. Workers were daubing the character chai, meaning “demolish”, on buildings due to be torn down. Mr Zhang took his cans to the same walls in protest at this often brutal upheaval.