Part 15/18:
Hidden messages and symbols embedded in Yu’s attire—such as references to freedom, death, or disappearance—are believed to be coded warnings or references to state secrets and underground rituals. His final works contain foreboding imagery, like the use of black and gray flowers, coffins, and umbrellas, foreshadowing death and loss of life. Many view his death as a symbol of the oppressive regime’s brutal control over individual lives, art, and culture.