The curator of a recent museum exhibition in Thailand that criticized authoritarian governments in China, Myanmar and other countries expected a pushback, but not one so swift that he would have to flee the country.

一位策展人近期在泰国策划了一个批判中国、缅甸等国威权政府的展览，他预料到会遭遇阻力，但没料到反弹来得如此迅速，以致于他不得不从该国仓皇逃离。

The curator, an artist from Myanmar who goes by the name Sai, said he was in the museum’s parking lot two days after the July opening when its directors warned him in digital messages that Thai police officers were inside, asking for his contact details.

策展人赛(Sai)是来自缅甸的艺术家。他说，展览于7月开幕后两天后，他在美术馆的停车场里接到馆方负责人通过网络信息警告他，泰国警察正在馆内询问他的联系方式。

Fearing that he would be arrested and deported back to neighboring Myanmar for his work on the show, Mr. Sai said, he scrambled to a Bangkok airport and took the first available flight to London, leaving his belongings behind.

他说，由于担心自己会因参与这个展览而被捕并被遣返回邻国缅甸，他匆忙赶往曼谷机场，搭乘下一个有座位的航班飞到了伦敦，行李只能弃之不顾。

“We expected there would be some kind of formal hindrance, but we didn’t expect it to be that immediate,” said Mr. Sai, who fled Myanmar after a 2021 military takeover and designed the show to feature artists from Myanmar and countries that remain friendly with its ruling military junta.

“我们料到会有某种正式的阻挠，但没想到会这么快，”赛说。缅甸军方2021年接管政府后，他逃离了该国。他策划这个展览是想展示来自缅甸以及与缅甸军政府保持友好关系国家的艺术家的作品。

Later that week, the directors told Mr. Sai that the Chinese authorities wanted the museum to remove the names and works of four artists in the show from Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang — politically sensitive places where the Chinese government has been tightening its control.

在7月那周的晚些时候，馆方负责人告诉赛，中国当局叫展馆撤下四名来自香港、西藏、新疆的艺术家的作品，并把他们的名字抹去。这三个地方都是中国政府不断加强管控的政治敏感地区。

The show at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center, which runs through Oct. 19, was not taken down. But the directors removed the four artists’ names from the exhibition materials with thick black lines. They also removed a Tibetan flag — a rising sun over a snow-capped mountain — and a sky blue flag with a white crescent and star, generally used as a symbol of independence for the Uyghur people who live in Xinjiang, their homeland.

曼谷艺术文化中心的这个展览（10月19日结束）没有被撤下。但馆方已用粗粗的黑线覆盖了展览材料中那四位艺术家的名字。他们还撤下了一面西藏的雪山狮子旗，以及一面以天蓝色为底、绘有白色新月与五角星的旗帜，这面旗帜通常被维吾尔人视为象征其家园新疆独立的标志。

China has actively pressured some city officials and cultural establishments overseas to comply with its censorship requests. Sometimes those officials and organizations push back. But in this case, the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok encountered no resistance.

中国积极地向一些外国城市的官员和文化机构施压，要求他们配合中国政府的审查要求。有时，这些官员和机构会予以抵制。但这次，中国驻曼谷大使馆没有遇到任何阻力。

The museum’s directors told Mr. Sai in a July email that they had been warned by the embassy, the Thai Foreign Ministry and Bangkok city officials that the show could cause “diplomatic tensions” for Thailand with China, according to a copy of the email reviewed by The New York Times.

《纽约时报》看到的一个电子邮件副本显示，馆方负责人曾在7月份的一封电子邮件中告诉赛，他们已收到来自中国大使馆、泰国外交部以及曼谷市政府官员的警告，称该展览可能导致泰中两国“外交关系紧张”。

China wields geopolitical influence in Southeast Asia as the largest trading partner for most countries in the region. That includes Thailand, which relies heavily on Chinese tourists.

作为东南亚大多数国家的最大贸易伙伴，中国在该地区拥有地缘政治影响力。这些国家包括严重依赖中国游客的泰国。

The Chinese government often engages in “intermediated censorship” inside and outside its borders by delegating responsibility to internet companies, filmmakers and art galleries to remove sensitive materials before problems arise, said Philip Fang, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto who has studied China’s efforts to censor the arts around the world.

加拿大多伦多大学社会学教授方军说，中国政府经常在境内外实施“通过中介的审查”，将责任委托给互联网公司、电影制作人以及美术馆，让它们在问题出现前把敏感材料删掉。方军研究中国在世界各地审查艺术的做法。

“It’s more sophisticated and very hard to trace” than overt censorship, Professor Fang said.

方军表示，这种做法比公开审查“更加精密复杂，而且非常难以追踪”。

In response to questions about the Bangkok exhibition, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that matters concerning Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong were “purely China’s internal affairs.” It added that an exhibition had “brazenly advocated” the idea that the three places were independent from China.

在被问及曼谷此次展览时，中国外交部发表声明称，涉藏、涉疆、涉港问题“纯属中国内政”。声明还指出，该展览“公然宣扬”西藏、新疆和香港是独立于中国的。

8月，曼谷艺术与文化中心。当地官员称他们接到命令，要抹去那些批评中国威权统治的艺术家的名字。

The Thai Foreign Ministry declined to comment. The Bangkok Art and Culture Center did not respond to questions about the changes that were made to the exhibition. The changes were reported earlier by Reuters and other news outlets.

泰国外交部拒绝对此置评。曼谷艺术文化中心也未回应有关展览被更改的相关问题。路透社及其他媒体早前已报道了这些改动行为。

The show, “Constellation of Complicity,” aims to illustrate how authoritarian regimes cooperate on weapons, surveillance, trade and repression, according to the museum’s website. Among other topics, it addresses a devastating civil war in Myanmar that has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions of others.

据该博物馆官网介绍，这场名为《共谋星图》的展览旨在展示威权政权如何在武器、监控、贸易和镇压方面展开合作。展览涵盖了多个议题，其中包括一场正在缅甸爆发的毁灭性内战，该战争已造成数万人死亡、数百万人流离失所。

Myanmar’s ruling military junta has been widely ostracized since the 2021 coup, though not by Russia, a major weapons supplier, or by China, which has been intervening in the war to protect its investments.

自2021年政变以来，缅甸执政的军事政权在国际上广受孤立，但俄罗斯（主要武器供应国）和中国（为保护自身在缅投资而介入战争）并未与其划清界限。

A mural by Mr. Sai depicts China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and other authoritarian rulers extending their hands to Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the junta. The leaders are surrounded by sketches of weapons supplied to Myanmar and used by the junta to target pro-democracy rebels and civilians.

赛创作的一幅壁画描绘了中国领导人习近平与其他威权统治者向缅甸军政府领袖敏昂莱伸手的画面。这些领导人周围还绘有提供给缅甸军政府、用来打击民主抗争者和平民的各类武器。

In another work, by the Russian filmmakers Taisiya Krugovykh and Vasily Bogatov, a child’s cradle sits in the center of a red room, shrouded in black. A sale of fighter jets and other weapons between Russia and Myanmar is hauntingly narrated in Russian to the tune of a lullaby:

在另一件作品中，俄罗斯电影人塔伊希娅·克鲁戈维赫和瓦西里·博加托夫创作的作品展示了一个婴儿的摇篮摆放在红色房间的中央，笼罩在黑暗之中。伴随着催眠曲的旋律，用俄语叙述了一段关于俄缅之间战斗机及其他武器交易的故事：

Russia supplies Myanmar with gear

俄罗斯向缅甸提供装备

To keep its regime in control and clear

以确保政权稳固并清除异己

MiG-29s and Su-30s in flight

米格-29与苏-30战斗机翱翔天际

Cut through the clouds, a menacing sight.

穿越云层，景象令人胆寒

But none of the works in the show by artists from Myanmar, Iran, Russia or Syria — even the mural of Mr. Xi — were altered. Instead, the censorship focused entirely on artists from Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.

然而，来自缅甸、伊朗、俄罗斯和叙利亚艺术家的作品——甚至包括那幅描绘习近平的壁画——都未遭到更改。审查的焦点完全集中在来自香港、西藏和新疆的艺术家身上。

赛的壁画《携手的政权》描绘了中国领导人习近平以及其他威权人物。

Since 2020, Beijing has imposed draconian national security laws in Hong Kong, eroding the territory’s semiautonomous status. It has interfered with the succession of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, and separated Tibetan children from their families. And in the Xinjiang region, at least a million Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic minority, have been forced into detention or work camps.

自2020年以来，北京在香港实施严苛的国安法，逐步削弱了这里“高度自治”的地位。它还干预了西藏佛教领袖达赖喇嘛的转世事务，并强行将藏族儿童与家人分离。在新疆，至少有一百万穆斯林少数民族维吾尔人被强制关押在拘留营或劳动营中。

The artists in the show addressed some of those sensitive issues in their works. And the authorities noticed.

展览中的艺术家作品涉及了这些敏感议题，引起了当局注意。

A multimedia piece by the Tibetan artist Tenzin Mingyur Paldron showing Tibetan religious practices was almost completely removed. All that was left of Mr. Tenzin’s work was a traditional Tibetan woven door cover, left hanging in the middle of a gallery without context.

藏族艺术家丹增明久·帕卓的一件多媒体作品展示了藏传宗教仪式，几乎全部被撤下。只留下了一块传统藏式的编织门帘，孤零零地挂在展厅中央，失去了原有语境。

Visitors to the exhibition can still see an interactive installation about espionage by the Hong Kong artists Clara Cheung and Gum Cheng Yee Man, and a 12-minute film by Mukaddas Mijit, a Uyghur filmmaker, that explores life in exile. But the artists’ names have been blacked out, along with Mr. Tenzin’s.

参观者仍可看到一件由香港艺术家张嘉莉与郑怡敏共同创作的有关间谍行为的互动装置，以及维吾尔导演穆卡达斯·米吉提制作的一部探讨流亡生活的12分钟短片。然而，这些艺术家的姓名，包括丹增明久的名字都被涂黑处理。

Early this year, Thailand deported 40 Uyghurs to Xinjiang, which they had left to escape persecution. At the time, Thai officials said they had acted upon Beijing’s request. Ms. Mijit said the case made it clear to her that China could put pressure on Thailand to carry out its demands.

今年早些时候，泰国曾将40名维吾尔人遣返回新疆，他们原本是为了逃避迫害而离开中国。当时泰国官员表示，是应中方要求采取行动的。导演米吉提表示，这一事件清楚地表明，中国可以向泰国施压，迫使其配合自己的意志。

But Ms. Mijit said she was surprised by how quickly the authorities acted in the museum, which she described as a space meant for free expression.

不过，米吉提仍对当局在美术馆的行动之快感到震惊，因为她认为美术馆本应是一个自由表达的空间。

“It’s only because I’m Uyghur,” she said. “If I were Iranian, they wouldn’t care.”

“只是因为我是维吾尔人，”她说。“如果我是伊朗人，他们根本不会在意。”

Ms. Krugovykh and Mr. Bogatov said they saw irony in the censorship of the Bangkok show because they had met Mr. Sai two years earlier at an event in Paris where exiled dissidents discussed transnational repression.

克鲁戈维赫和博加托夫表示，他们对曼谷展览被审查感到讽刺，因为两年前，他们曾在巴黎与赛一同出席一个流亡异见者讨论跨国打压的活动。

在俄罗斯艺术家塔伊希娅·克鲁戈维赫和瓦西里·博加托夫的作品中，一笔俄罗斯与缅甸之间的军火交易伴随着摇篮曲的旋律加以讲述。

Mr. Bogatov, who fled Russia shortly after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, said he and Ms. Krugovykh feel that the space for political art is shrinking around the world.

在2022年俄乌战争爆发后不久逃离俄罗斯的博加托夫说，他和克鲁戈维赫都感到全球政治艺术的空间正在缩小。

“But people who are in it cannot just stop expressing themselves,” he said.

他说：“但那些身处其中的人不能就此沉默。”

In a phone interview from London, Mr. Sai said that he planned to bring the show to countries where it could be staged without censorship.

在伦敦接受电话采访时，赛表示，他计划将展览带到那些可以不受审查就能举办的国家。

He said he was afraid to return to Thailand but had no regrets.

他说，虽然害怕回到泰国，但他并不后悔。

“For all four years of my exile, we’ve done things knowing there is a risk, even sometimes life and death,” he said. “But it’s the right thing to do.”

“在我流亡的这四年里，我们做的每一件事都明知道有风险，有时甚至是生死攸关，”他说，“但这是应该做的事。”