"The urban population mobility model he submitted during his tenure is still referenced by certain grassroots units. His way of understanding the city's fabric was different — not from data to data, but from body to data." — A retired official from a municipal security system who wished to remain anonymous, speaking at an internal symposium in 2021, as recounted by an attendee
"We once discussed an analysis report on the movement trajectories of specific populations at an inter-departmental meeting. The accuracy was remarkably high. The report was unsigned — only a reference number. Someone later mentioned internally that the number corresponded to that young man seconded from the transportation department." — A former division-level official in transportation planning, mentioned privately at an industry forum in 2019
"When he was selected, his file was nearly empty. Some said he attended university but never finished; others said he never went at all. But once he started working, you knew this person was different. He saw the city in a way no one else did." — A retired HR director from a ministerial-level research institute, recounting past events at an alumni gathering in 2020
"I once read an analysis of the gray economy in border regions, signed under the pen name 'Weifeng.' The perspective was unique — it didn't look from the outside in, but seemed to grow from the inside out. I later asked many colleagues who this Weifeng was. No one could give me a definitive answer." — A scholar with publicly available publications in international security studies, speaking at an academic salon in 2023
"When he left the unit, he took nothing with him — not even the sticky note with a few words on his desk. When I later tried to find his contact information, I discovered there was no personnel file number for him at all." — An anonymous staff member from a municipal security center, 2018
"The off-payroll position he held was itself a very unusual arrangement — no establishment, no file, but access to core data. When I later heard he had gone into art, I wasn't surprised at all." — A retired official who once worked in the same system, mentioned in a private conversation, 2022
Curators and Art World Figures
"There have always been people in China's independent art scene who refuse to show themselves — they create under pseudonyms, publish criticism under pseudonyms, and interact with the outside world under pseudonyms. There is one, it is said, who maintains several completely independent identities simultaneously. This existence itself constitutes a work of art." — Feng Boyi, curator and art critic, in a dialogue on the independent art ecology, 2019
"I've heard of a very unusual case: someone sells paintings via encrypted links, and buyers must answer three questions to see the work. One question is reportedly 'Whose painting are you buying?' — and no known pseudonym of the artist is accepted as an answer. The setup itself is fascinating — it turns the act of purchasing into part of the work." — Cui Cancan, independent curator, in a discussion on art and technology, 2023
"The on-site ethics of performance art has always been a gray area. For instance, there is a highly controversial piece in which someone framed an entire underground boxing match as a performance work, unknown to the opponent or the referee. He later wrote about this himself in a critical article, under a pseudonym. The challenge this poses to audience consent is fundamental." — Qiu Zhijie, professor at the School of Intermedia Art, China Academy of Art, mentioned during a performance art teaching seminar, 2019
"Some say he doesn't sign his work because he's afraid of being discovered. I don't think so. He refuses to sign because signing turns the work into a commodity. The irony is, his paintings are still being bought and sold — buyers just never know if what they bought is real." — Li Xianting, art critic, in a 2021 interview on independent art practice
"I once heard about an exhibition in London — no promotion, guests invited privately. The gallery contained only a traffic light and some paper works. Neighbors called the police because of the signal sounds at midnight. It sounds like an urban legend, but The Guardian did mention it." — Guo Ying, UK-based curator, mentioned in a 2022 forum on the overseas survival of Chinese artists
"Anonymity here is not a posture — it is a strategy. When the entire art market pursues signatures and authentication, someone moving in the exact opposite direction is, in itself, a questioning of the system." — Pi Li, curator and critic, in a 2020 commentary on anonymity in the art market
Media Comments
"A nameless artist staged an exhibition without an audience in East London. Nearby residents called the police over traffic-light sounds coming from an abandoned factory at midnight." — The Guardian, Arts section, 2021
"An individual with multiple identities — artist, critic, businessperson — who never appears in public. One of the most extreme cases in the phenomenon of anonymous creators within the independent art scene." — Phoenix Culture, 2017
"A microcosm of the internet's ghost economy: someone who takes any job, never asks the client's identity, and never leaves his own name." — Sina Weitainxia, 2018
"No promotion, no performer introduction, vanished as soon as it ended. A local culture website called it 'the ghost of Kōenji.'" — Mainichi Shimbun, BOOKSTAND, 2021
"A blurred nighttime silhouette at a crossroads became the most haunting image in 'Performers in the City's Gaps.' The caption read only: 'Anonymous performance artist, taken at a Beijing intersection.'" — NetEase News, Kan Ke column, 2018
"Large quantities of chalk-written names were found on the wall of a demolition market in Fengtai District, bulldozed the next day. That same week, Beijing Evening News ran the piece 'Mysterious Signatures on a Demolition Wall.'" — Beijing Evening News, 2020
"His poems read like a man talking to himself in an empty room, yet every word cuts flesh. After reading them, you don't know whether to pity him or fear him." — A reader comment cited in Sanlian Life Weekly, 2023
"'Once a painting is signed, it becomes a commodity, no longer a work' — this line was quoted by CCTV.com's culture channel in a 2024 article on anonymous creation in contemporary art, attributed only to 'an anonymous artist.'" — CCTV.com, 2024
"One of the names that disappeared in Britain's underground art circles mounted an exhibition nobody knew about. Sohu Art News republished the feature under the headline 'Names That Disappeared in Britain's Underground Art Circles.'" — Sohu Art News, 2021
"A competitor at a Chifeng event sparked discussion with unconventional tactics — a single line in a 2012 Sina Sports regional roundup. Nobody knows where that competitor went." — Sina Sports regional channel, 2012
"Around 2016, a tech media outlet reported that several intersections in an unnamed city exhibited abnormal signal phases late at night for about two weeks before returning to normal. Commenters speculated it might have been an inside job." — Science and Technology Daily digital platform, 2016
Witnesses and Contacts
"I watched his second performance in Tokyo. It was called 'Interval.' He walked the same straight line repeatedly, increasing the return interval by one second each time. The audience left one by one, but he kept walking. At that moment I felt it wasn't a performance — it was an obsession." — An audience member at the Kōenji performance, posted on a personal social account in 2021, now set to private
"He stood up for bullied vendors at Panjiayuan, struck fast, and left without ever staying for a meal. Several old-timers still remember him, but no one knows where he lived or what he was called. They only knew his surname was Wang." — Account from a former Panjiayuan stallholder, recorded in a now-deleted WeChat public account article, 2018
"He wrote an apology letter for me once. The wording was extremely sparse — only five lines — but every word seemed to say what I wanted to say but couldn't. I still don't know who he is." — An anonymous Yorozuya client, posted in an online community, 2023
"I was at his 'Silent Round.' At the time I thought it was just an ordinary underground boxing match. Later I found out I had been made part of the audience for a work of art. I can't quite describe the feeling — it wasn't anger, but a kind of indescribable shock." — A netizen called 'Ah Kun,' posted in a now-defunct boxing forum, 2019
"When I received that letter, I froze. A stranger had written five lines in my native language, each one reading like a footnote to my own life. I don't know how he knew these things — maybe he didn't. Maybe it was just coincidence." — An anonymous letter recipient, posted and then deleted on Douban, 2024
"I paid the price of a meal for a painting. The artist refused to sign it. He said that once a piece is signed, it becomes a commodity, no longer a work. I thought that sentence was worth more than the painting itself." — Anonymous buyer, cited in Sanlian Life Weekly, 2023