EFFORTS to stifle the romantic outpourings of the city’s Romeos and Juliets have backfired after an official “graffiti wall” decorated with government-approved messages of love was “vandalized” by street artists.
With a name that translates as “sweet love,” Tian’ai Road in Hongkou District has long attracted lovelorn poets and artists — of varying capabilities — keen to express their deepest emotions.
Along its length, scribbled hearts, romantic rhymes and assorted billet doux adorned pavements, walls and lampposts.
Despite the sincerity of the sentiment, local officials recently deemed the love-themed graffiti inappropriate and unsightly, and set about getting rid of it.
So last month, nine artists were selected to decorate a 150-meter-long wall with their interpretations of the romantic yearnings of the public.
Unfortunately for the district government, not everyone fell in love with the new scheme and several of the authorized works were recently defaced, albeit in an artistic way.
You Xingguo, deputy Party secretary of the Sichuan Road N. subdistrict said the public had misunderstood the government’s intention with regards to the graffiti wall.
It was not intended as a place for people to express their own views, he said, but rather for them to enjoy the official paintings.
“Now we will have to invite the artists to recreate the drawings or modify the new ones to make them harmonious with the other works,” he said.
The unofficial additions to the wall include a timely representation of Sun Wukong — aka the Monkey King — and a vibrant advertisement for a local tattoo parlor.
You said he suspects the vigilante artists worked under the cover of darkness.
“Volunteers patrolled the road frequently (but never saw anyone),” he said, adding that whitewashing over the offending pieces will probably cost the government about 1,000 yuan (US$150).
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