Artful graffiti destroyed; public safety cited

Drawings by two artists, one Chinese and one French, on an abandonded wall in Shanghai's Shikumen area were destroyed.

Despite administrators' stated good intentions, some residents and visitors expressed anger and disappointment online. "We should not give up eating for fear of choking," a netizen wrote on Sina Weibo. "There must be a solution balancing safety and people's love for the pictures."

The destruction also became a hot topic among the representatives of the city's Two Sessions of the People's Congress and People's Political Consultative Conference. The meetings were held during the weekend.

Shanghai municipal political consultative conference member Dai Jianguo, a professor at Shanghai Normal University, had kept an eye on the topic for several days. He told Shanghai Morning Post that the graffiti went viral online because they expressed people's true feelings and aspirations.

"They brought people back to the past and evoked their memories about the old houses," Dai was quoted as saying.

But Dai understood the governmental concern that it would be dangerous if too many people visited the demolition site. Under such circumstances, he suggested a strengthened management including defining a safe area and asking people to wear safety helmets while visiting the doodles.

Chairman of Shanghai Artists Association Shi Dawei said the drawings belong to modern art and represent young people's feelings about society. A city needs and should respect such artworks, he said.

Related: Graffiti appears on dismantled Shikumen buildings in Shanghai