JCCA 8 (2+3) pp. 167–191 Intellect Limited 2021 Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art Volume 8 Numbers 2 & 3 www.intellectbooks.com 167 © 2021 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. https://doi.org/10.1386/jcca_00043_1 Received 28 February 2021; Accepted 28 July 2021 MEIQIN WANG California State University Northridge Pandemic, censorship and creative protests via grassroots visual mobilization ABSTRACT In early 2020, Chinese people engaged in several rounds of extraordinary online campaigns in response to the government’s handling of the outbreak of coronavi- rus. During these campaigns, visual images played a crucial role in facilitating netizens to inform each other, escape official censoring machinery, express anger and frustration, excavate truth, document reality and mobilize online support and protest. In particular, images related with Dr Li Wenliang, one of whistle- blowers of the soon-to-be pandemic who himself died of the virus, and Dr Ai Fen, the first doctor to share information about a possible coronavirus diagnose among her colleagues, became the focal points of the unprecedented online mobiliza- tion successively. Millions of netizens participated in the effort to circulate these images (and stories behind them) and invented ingenious ways to continue the endeavour when confronted by the heightened censorship. Various art commu- nities and individuals have done their share to fuel in this momentum of visual mobilization and there was a surge of call for public participation in responding to the pandemic through participatory public artworks. Maskbook, initiated by artist Wen Fang, and One More Day led by MeDoc, are two exemplary cases. KEYWORDS COVID-19 pandemic positive energy censorship creative protest online activism grassroots visual mobilization visual systems of knowledge