Executed hawker’s son accused of copying Taiwanese artist's work

The family of a Shenyang hawker whose execution last month prompted a public outcry is now embroiled in a suspected plagiarism scandal over the son’s paintings, triggering heated debate online.

The collection of 13-year-old Xia Jianqiang consists of paintings he drew in the past few years depicting his family’s struggles and has provoked widespread public sympathy for his father, Xia Junfeng.

The hawker was sentenced to death for killing two city management officials in 2009. Supporters claim he was acting in self-defence against the enforcers, notorious for their bullying and violent practices.

The boy’s paintings have recently drawn suspicion from commentators online who claim they are products of plagiarism. Some pointed out that at least a dozen of the paintings closely resemble those of the famed Taiwanese illustrator Jimmy Liao Fubin, whose works have gained wide popularity among children and adults alike across the strait over the last decade.

A post that compared Xia’s paintings to those of Liao’s by putting them side by side was widely shared online.

The suspicions have prompted Xia Jianqiang’s mother, Zhang Jing, to issue an apology on her Weibo account, admitting her son "imitated" Jimmy’s paintings.

“I would like to apologise to Jimmy Liao and explain myself to him,” she said, adding: “I sincerely had no idea about [the concept of] plagiarism in art as I studied only up to middle school.”