It was October 2023, and F.B.I. agents told Hui Bo not to come to their office.

那是2023年10月，联邦调查局的特工告诉惠波不要去他们的办公室。

For his own safety, it would be better to meet in public, he recalled them saying, so he waited near a park in Los Angeles. He was warned that he was being watched by agents of the People’s Republic of China after he commissioned sculptures in protest of China’s government.

他回忆说，特工们表示，为了他的安全最好在公共场所见面，于是他在洛杉矶的一个公园附近等他们。他被警告称，由于委托制作了抗议中国政府的雕塑，他正受到中国特工的监视。

“The F.B.I. said that you are in great danger, that we strongly recommend that you move and not live here anymore,” Mr. Hui said in an interview. “That’s when I felt fear.”

“FBI说，你的处境非常危险，我们强烈建议你搬家，不要再住在这里，”惠波在接受采访时说。“那一刻我感到了恐惧。”

Mr. Hui’s story is part of a larger trend, one that federal law enforcement officials said exposes an aggressive new phase in China’s global campaign to silence dissent.

惠波的遭遇并非个案，联邦执法官员表示，这揭示了中国在全球范围内压制异见人士的行动已进入一个更为强硬的新阶段。

Where once the Chinese state focused on political dissidents and exiled activists, it now targets artists like Mr. Hui, whose creative protests have tested the government’s tolerance and reach, the officials said.

这些联邦执法官员说，过去中国政府主要针对政治异见人士和流亡活动人士，如今则把目标对准了像惠波这样的艺术家——他们以充满创意的抗议方式考验着政府的容忍度和影响范围。

The crackdown has intensified and extended beyond China’s borders since the country’s top leader, President Xi Jinping, rose to power in 2012.

自中国最高领导人习近平于2012年上台以来，这种打压行动日益加剧，并延伸至境外。

The government has even expanded its influence to elections abroad, including races in New York City, to try to quash criticism of the Chinese state in places where people are more free to speak out than they are in China.

中国政府甚至对海外的选举施加影响，包括纽约市的竞选活动，试图在言论环境比中国更自由的地方压制针对中国政府的批评声音。

China is not alone in seeking to silence critics abroad.

中国并非唯一一个试图在海外噤声批评者的国家。

Russia does it. Iran does it. Saudi Arabia does, too, according to Roman Rozhavsky, the assistant director of the F.B.I.’s counterintelligence division in Washington.

据华盛顿的联邦调查局反情报部门助理主任罗曼·罗扎夫斯基称，俄罗斯、伊朗和沙特阿拉伯也这样做。

But China, he said, is the most prolific, devoting substantial resources to the effort in the United States. Suppressing dissent is a priority for China’s president, Mr. Rozhavsky said.

但他表示，中国是规模最大的一个，在美国投入了大量资源用于此类行动。罗扎夫斯基指出，压制异议是中国国家主席的一个优先事项。

“We are seeing more of these cases and we’re seeing the Chinese government be more aggressive in going after people on U.S. soil,” Mr. Rozhavsky said.

“我们看到这类案件越来越多，也看到中国政府在美国本土针对个人采取行动时变得更加强硬，”罗扎夫斯基说。

The cases involving the artists share a common thread: They were targeted for criticizing President Xi, the Chinese Communist Party, or the workings of the Chinese government.

涉及这些艺术家的案件都有一个共同点：他们因批评习近平主席、中国共产党或中国政府的行事方式而成为针对目标。

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said that he was unfamiliar with Mr. Hui’s case.

中国驻华盛顿大使馆的发言人表示，他不了解惠波的案件。

He rejected the claims made by the U.S. Department of Justice that China had been silencing critics abroad, calling it, in a statement, a “completely unwarranted accusation and a malicious smear against China.”

他在一份声明中驳斥了美国司法部关于中国在海外噤声批评者的说法，称这是“完全毫无根据的指责，是对中国的恶意抹黑”。

Mr. Rozhavsky said that critics of China have had relatives living in the country threatened by the Chinese government, or that China has hired a person in the United States to intimidate or physically hurt them.

罗扎夫斯基表示，中国的批评者曾遭遇生活在国内的亲属被政府威胁的情况，或者在美国雇用他人对批评者进行恐吓或人身伤害。

“Their job is to silence people and, unfortunately, it works,” Mr. Rozhavsky said. “It creates this Orwellian climate of fear where people are afraid to speak their mind even though they’re on U.S. soil and they’re just exercising their right to freedom of speech.”

“他们的工作就是让人闭嘴，遗憾的是，这确实奏效了，”罗扎夫斯基说。“这制造了一种奥威尔式的恐惧氛围，让人们即便身处美国领土、只是在行使言论自由权利时，也会害怕表达自己的想法。”

Mr. Hui, 57, left China for Los Angeles in 2017 with his wife and two children. He hoped to give his children a better life, one far from the reach of an oppressive government, he said.

惠波现年57岁，他于2017年带着妻子和两个孩子离开中国前往洛杉矶。他说，他希望给孩子更好的生活，一个远离高压政府掌控的生活。

Years after leaving China, disillusioned by its handling of public health crises and its suppression of free expression, Mr. Hui began working with a sculptor in secret.

离开中国数年后，由于对中国处理公共卫生危机的方式以及对言论自由的压制感到失望，惠波开始与一位雕塑家秘密展开合作。

Together, they created four statues.

他们共同创作了四尊雕像。

The statues depict Mr. Xi and the first lady, Peng Liyuan, kneeling and their hands bound behind them. In one set, they are clothed. In the other, they are bare-chested, emphasizing their humiliation.

这些雕塑描绘了习近平和第一夫人彭丽媛跪着、双手反绑在身后的形象。其中一组身着衣物，另一组则赤裸上身，刻意强化了受辱的意味。

This depiction of a disgraced, kneeling couple evokes a potent and specific Chinese historical parallel: the enduring example of Qin Hui.

这种跪地、蒙羞的夫妇的形象，让人想到了一个有力而具体的中国历史参照：千古罪人秦桧。

He was the 12th-century official blamed for the wrongful execution of General Yue Fei, an admired national figure. A bronze statue of the official, and another of his wife, kneel in atonement outside the general’s tomb in Hangzhou, China.

秦桧是12世纪的一名官员，被认为应为冤杀受人景仰的民族英雄岳飞将军负责。在中国杭州的岳飞墓外分别放置着这位官员及其妻子以示赎罪的青铜跪像。

杭州岳飞庙内的秦桧夫妇铜像。

Mr. Hui understood the symbolism of the statues of the Chinese president and his wife kneeling. He also understood the risks.

惠波明白中国国家主席及其夫人的跪像所蕴含的象征意义。他也明白其中的风险。

In November 2023, as Mr. Xi prepared to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, Mr. Hui was preparing his protest. He had posted on social media that he planned to display the sculptures near the summit as a silent rebuke to a government he believed had abandoned its people.

2023年11月，正当习近平准备参加在旧金山举行的亚太经合组织峰会时，惠波也在筹备他的抗议活动。他在社交媒体上发布消息称计划在峰会附近展示这些雕塑，作为对他所认为的背弃了人民的政府进行无声谴责。

Federal prosecutors said that two men, Cui Guanghai, 44, of China, and John Miller, 64, a British national who is a permanent U.S. resident, orchestrated a harassment campaign to derail Mr. Hui’s protest. The harassment took place from October 2023 through at least April 2025, according to court documents.

联邦检察官称，两名男子——44岁的中国公民崔广海（音），以及64岁的英国籍、拥有美国永久居留权的约翰·米勒——策划了一场骚扰行动，意在破坏惠波的抗议。据法庭文件，这些骚扰行为从2023年10月持续到至少2025年4月。

Tracking devices were placed on Mr. Hui’s car. His tires were slashed to keep him from making the six-plus-hour drive with the sculptures to the conference in San Francisco.

惠波的车被装上了追踪设备。他的轮胎被割破，以阻止他带着雕塑驱车六个多小时前往旧金山举行的峰会。

In May, a grand jury indicted Mr. Cui and Mr. Miller on charges of conspiracy, interstate stalking and smuggling. The Justice Department called the incident part of “a blatant assault on both our national security and our democratic values.”

今年5月，大陪审团以共谋、跨州跟踪和走私等罪名对崔广海和米勒提起公诉。司法部称该事件是“对我们国家安全和民主价值的公然攻击”。

It was unclear from court records whether Mr. Cui and Mr. Miller had legal representation.

法庭记录未显示崔广海和米勒是否有法律代表。

Mr. Hui said he had also learned that in China, police officers had taken his parents in for questioning.

惠波说，他得知他在中国的父母被警方带走问话。

A few days before the summit, his mother, who is in her 80s, called from his hometown in Liaoning, China. She was in tears, begging him not to attend the summit, he said.

峰会前几天，他80多岁的母亲从中国辽宁的老家给他打来电话，哭着恳求他不要前往峰会。

For Mr. Hui, it wasn’t the first signal of trouble, but it was the clearest. “I had no other choice but to cancel my plan,” he said.

对惠波来说，这并非麻烦降临的第一个信号，却是最清晰的一个。“我别无选择，只能取消计划，”他说道。

Mr. Hui was not alone in his experience.

惠波并非唯一有此遭遇的人。

In the Mojave Desert, Chen Weiming, a California-based sculptor from China, created a towering installation made of fiberglass that partially portrayed Mr. Xi with protruding spikes of the coronavirus on his head. It was titled “CCP Virus,” alluding to the Chinese Communist Party.

在莫哈韦沙漠，来自中国、现居加州的雕塑家陈维明创作了一件大型玻璃钢装置作品，部分形象描绘了习近平，其头部伸出类似新冠病毒的突刺。作品名为《中共病毒》，影射中国共产党。

In spring 2021, vandals set it ablaze. Mr. Chen said it wasn’t the first time — or the last.

2021年春天，这件作品遭纵火焚毁。陈维明说，这既不是第一次，也不会是最后一次。

“The pressure is constant,” he said. “But the message must stand.”

“压力是持续不断的，”他说。“但信息必须传达出去。”

Mr. Chen, 68, runs Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo, Calif., where dozens of politically charged works are on display, including those that memorialize Tiananmen Square and denounce Hong Kong’s national security laws.

68岁的陈维明在加州耶尔莫经营着自由雕塑公园，园内展出着数十件带有强烈政治色彩的作品，其中包括纪念天安门广场事件、谴责香港国安法的作品。

Mr. Chen said that he and his volunteers have faced repeated harassment since 2022: studio break-ins, surveillance and threats. Even collaborators — curators, filmmakers, publishers — have reported harassment, Mr. Chen said.

陈维明表示，自2022年以来，他和他的义工团队屡屡遭到骚扰：工作室被闯入、被监视、受到威胁。他说，甚至连合作伙伴——策划人、电影制作人、出版商——也报告受到了骚扰。

The attacks, he said, have only deepened his resolve.

他说，这些攻击只会让他变得更加坚定。

“I had to rebuild it,” Mr. Chen said of the sculpture. “This time in steel so they can’t destroy it.”

“我必须把它重建起来，”陈维明谈到那座雕塑时说。“这一次要用钢材建造，这样他们就无法摧毁它了。”

In March 2022, federal prosecutors announced charges against three people over their involvement in a repression scheme, which included setting fire to Mr. Chen’s sculpture and spying on the artist.

2022年3月，联邦检察官宣布对三人提起指控，指控他们参与了一项打压行动，其中包括焚毁陈维明的雕塑以及监视这位艺术家。

Maya Wang, an associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said these cases underscore how far the Chinese government will go.

人权观察的亚洲区副主任王松莲表示，从这些案例可以看出中国政府为了达到目的而愿意将行动推进到何种程度。

“The use of transnational repression demonstrates a symptom of the underlying structure of the Chinese government’s influence operations around the world,” Ms. Wang said. “It has marginalized voices critical of Beijing and elevated those who are friendly to it.”

“动用跨国打压手段，反映出中国政府全球影响力行动背后的一个结构性特征，”王松莲说。“它对批评北京的声音加以边缘化，同时提升了对其友好的声音。”

Since 2023, Mr. Hui has lost more than 30 pounds, he said. He struggles to sleep. He keeps his phone close.

惠波表示，自2023年以来，他已经瘦了近14公斤。他经常失眠，手机从不离身。

Still, Mr. Hui opened his exhibition at the Pandemic Victims Memorial Organization in Corona, Calif. The sculptures stand in place. Security cameras watch the doors.

尽管如此，惠波还是在加利福尼亚州科罗纳的“疫情受难者纪念组织”举办了他的展览。雕塑安放就位。监控摄像头紧盯着大门。

As for continuing to commission art in protest of the government, he said: “Whether I do it or not, I will face huge risks. Therefore, I will continue.”

至于是否继续委托创作抗议政府的艺术作品，他说：“不管我做不做，都会面临巨大的风险。所以，我会继续。”