Weiming Chen vows to restore ‘CCP Virus’ after fire destroys artwork in Yermo's Liberty Sculpture Park

Weiming Chen’s latest artwork, “CCP Virus,” which he unveiled at Liberty Sculpture Park in Yermo early last month, has been destroyed in a fire, photographs obtained by the Daily Press show.

In the photos, the sculpture — which mocked China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and blamed the Chinese Communist Party for the coronavirus pandemic — lies in a pile of charred rubble. 

The base of the sculpture, as well as the bold red letters that spell the name of the artwork, are all that remain of the piece.

Early Saturday morning, a spokesperson for Chen said the artist is aware of the incident and is returning from Northern California to assess the situation.

In a statement provided by the spokesperson, Chen characterized the destruction of his art as an attack, alleging that the Chinese Communist Party “wants to shut down our free speech.”

“I think this (arson) must come from a Chinese Communist Party Officer in Los Angeles. Something like this is not a personal action but a Chinese Government action against us and the American system of free speech,” Chen said in the statement. “They want the truth about the origins of the COVID-19 virus to be hidden from the world. I will make a face, reproduce the sculpture and make new again.”

The Daily Press received the three photos shortly after 9 p.m. Friday. Barstow Police Department and Barstow Fire Protection District didn't partake in any response to the sculpture's destruction, sources in the agencies told the Daily Press that night. They said the incident falls in the jurisdiction of San Bernardino County authorities.

San Bernardino County Fire officials had not returned a message seeking comment as of Saturday evening.

Deputies from the San Bernardino County sheriff's station in Barstow responded to the inferno at 6:21 p.m. Friday, spokesperson Cindy Bachman said in an email to the Daily Press.

Bachman said the deputies took a report but added that call records contained no information on suspected perpetrators of the apparent arson. She said she would share further information as she received it. The department hadn't responded to a request for the deputies’ report at the time of publication.

Chen unveiled the sculpture during a ceremony at Liberty Sculpture Park on June 4, the Daily Press reported. A Chinese dissident who left the country three decades ago, he has used the park’s 36 acres to protest the Chinese regime with his art since 2016.

Chen told the Daily Press last month that he hoped his work would help promote a regime change in China. 

“We are a human-rights sculpture park,” he said. “...Because I know that I have the government support to make it here.”

Other sculptures in the park — situated adjacent to the northbound lanes of Interstate 15, roughly 11 miles east of Barstow — include a bust of Lakota leader Crazy Horse; a 16-foot-tall statue of Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, who faced 21 years in prison after the Tiananmen Square protests and later died by still-disputed causes; and a military tank replica faced down by a man to commemorate the still-unidentified man’s 1989 protest in Tiananmen Square.

Daily Press reporter Charlie McGee contributed to this report.

Daily Press Managing Editor Matthew Cabe can be reached at MCabe@VVDailyPress.com or 760-490-0052. Follow him on Twitter @DP_MatthewCabe.