captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> "60 minutes" traveled to europe, to find out how extreme weather is affecting some of the most famous wines in the world. how many bottles were you able to produce? >> a normal year, i produce around 40,000, 50,000 bottles. >> this year? >> zero. >> climate change has affected many of france's vintages severely. its economy, too. but in rainy old england, across the channel, we found a very different story. do you think that wine lovers around the world already know that great wines are coming out

of england? in other words-- is it "ooh, la la" no more? it's "jolly good"? ( laughter ) >> if he's not public enemy number one in china, he's up there. tonight, we'll introduce you to badiucao. part guerilla activist, part political cartoonist, he lives in exile, traveling the world using paint and wit-- online and on walls-- to draw truth to power, infuriating the c.c.p.-- the chinese communist party. >> i am an individual. i'm not controlled by any authority, certainly not c.c.p. that scares them. because all they want is total control. ( ticking ) >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm sharyn alfonsi. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories and more, tonight, on "60 minutes." ( ticking )

[music throughout] this year has been extremely challenging for me. i am broken. and i am healing. i'm here at the memorial wall. i wanted to do something to remember my mom. for some reason, i'm having anxiety. obviously it's normal with everything that's going on right now. i think i'm going to take a break for a while. you can get through it. and if you can get through it, there's a greater reward on the other side. just like anybody else, you know, i'm just trying to do my little part to try and save my community. ta-da! i'm just really excited we're back open. and i am smiling under my mask! incredible scenes on the day the fans came back. welcome back to the theater! you guys, it's been so long!

you're looking at yourself in the mirror, and you're just like, “there. i. am.” be your best. never, ever, ever stop dreaming. i don't care what they tell you. ...we the jury in the above entitled manner as to count three find the defendant guilty. i am proud to be asian. we are not drowning, we are fighting. we cannot keep quiet about climate injustice. no action is too small. we just have to band together as a community, and get people's lives back. my son. that even as we grieved, we grew. that even as we hurt, we hoped. that even as we tired, we tried. that we'll forever be tied together, victorious.

>> stahl: what are the signs of global warming?

glaciers are melting at an increasingly rapid pace. persistent droughts are spreading. well, we have another to tell you about-- wine. as in, what you probably cracked open for christmas dinner. farmers who grow the grapes have seen the effects of climate change in the soil, in the roots of the vines, and the yields of their crops. france, a major center of winemaking for centuries, is experiencing increasingly higher temperatures and extreme weather conditions that have damaged vintages and livelihoods. this year was particularly dramatic. france recorded its smallest harvest since 1957, and stands to lose more than $2 billion in sales, a huge blow to the country's second-largest export industry. and it's hitting nearly all the wine-growing regions, where they make dry whites, fruity reds, and fizzy champagne.

all bubblies are called sparkling wine, but champagne is made here and nowhere else-- in these vineyards and villages of champagne, located in northeastern france. there's a mystique to champagne, an aura of romance. coco chanel once said, "i only drink champagne on two occasions-- when i'm in love, and when i'm not." they've been producing this" wine of kings" here for centuries. so, how long has this winemaking business and the vineyards been in your family? >> christine sevillano: from 1700. >> stahl: 1700. >> sevillano: yes. >> stahl: christine sevillano took over the family business and its 20 acres of vines 14 years ago. she's the tenth generation. >> sevillano: this is the cellar of my grandfather. >> stahl: oh. after surviving the french revolution and two world wars,

her family's house of piot- sevillano faced its worst year ever in 2021. >> sevillano: we lost 90% of our harvest. >> stahl: 90%? >> sevillano: yes. >> stahl: how many bottles were you able to produce this year, as opposed to a normal year? >> sevillano: a normal year, i produce around 40,000, 50,000 bottles. >> stahl: and this year? >> sevillano: zero. it's the first time in the history of my winery that we will not make champagne. >> stahl: not a single bottle from this winery? >> sevillano: yes, yes. >> stahl: higher temperatures and extreme weather episodes devastated not only her harvest, but much of champagne's. >> sevillano: it rained in two or three days that it rained normally in one month. even my father told me that in his career he has never seen that. >> stahl: almost flood-like? >> sevillano: yes. >> stahl: the worst of it, she

says, came in june and july, when the heat and the rains resulted in a more crippling outbreak than usual of funguses, like mildew contamination. >> sevillano: in fact, when the grapes are contaminated, the-- the fruit is drying. and after, we can't use it, because there is no juice, nothing. >> stahl: and you attribute this to climate change? >> sevillano: yes. because it was so extreme. it's not normal. >> stahl: this year's extreme weather not only battered champagne and the foundation of its economy, but nearly every one of the wine-producing regions in france-- burgundy to bordeaux, where some of the highest quality, best-known and best-tasting reds and whites are made. and these are what grape? what, what-- >> jacques lurton: this is merlot. >> stahl: merlot! i love merlot. >> lurton: yeah, merlot makes a beautiful, soft-rounded wines. >> stahl: jacques lurton, the head of a wine family dynasty,

runs the chateau la louviere and several other wineries in bordeaux. he says vine disease is getting worse all over france because of the rising temperatures. >> lurton: we don't have winters anymore, almost. in wintertime, normally you get colder conditions. these cool conditions tend to kill the funguses or the disease. so normally, winter cleans the situation, you see? but the most important problem that we have is what we call spring frost. >> stahl: spring frost was so severe in april this year that winegrowers were on their knees lighting bales of hay and candles between their vines in a mostly futile attempt to protect their young buds. >> lurton: it is the largest catastrophe we have ever suffered. because, before, we had some spring frost in some regions, but this is the first time we have it all over france.

now, due to the fact that we don't have these very strong winters, the buds start to open, and then expose themself to this series of spring frost that we have. >> stahl: and that is the crux-- >> lurton: and that, you see, is what affect the most the quantity of the grapes. >> stahl: so, tell us about this year, in terms of the amount. >> lurton: in average, in france this year, a loss of 30%. >> stahl: 30% of the yields. and what about you? what's your percent? >> lurton: and us, we have been affected up to 40%. >> stahl: so, you're one of the largest wine producers in bordeaux. 40% loss. i mean, that's enormous. >> lurton: it's huge. it's huge. >> stahl: for bordeaux, he estimates a loss of roughly $800 million in sales this year. is this something that's happening all over europe or-- or just france? >> greg jones: no. it's happening all over europe, definitely. >> stahl: greg jones is a

research climatologist with southern oregon university, who for 25 years has specialized in the study of how climate influences the growing and harvesting of wine grapes. >> jones: what we're seeing today is, we're seeing more of these extreme events happening more frequently at greater degrees and causing more problems. >> stahl: yeah, we see it everywhere. it's not just in farm regions. i mean, every part of our country is experiencing some extreme weather condition. so, how do you know it isn't that "normal" extreme weather, as opposed to a general climate change? >> jones: there's an area in climate science called attribution science. and attribution science is all about trying to kind of understand how much role humans have in the game of climate. so, the idea-- >> stahl: or who to attribute it to, okay. >> jones: yeah, yeah. so, what climatologists do is, we develop models that look at aspects of climate. and those models that are coming out are really telling us more

and more that, in the absence of humans, most of these things would not occur to the same degree they're occurring today. >> stahl: tie what you're saying about climate to what's going on in france now. >> jones: sure. in-- in-- in france, just like most of europe, temperatures have gone up. summers have gotten dryer. and wine grapes are just sensitive. they're sensitive to those kind of changes, and-- and we've been seeing it worldwide. and europe has been at the epicenter of it. >> stahl: this weather map of europe for june 2021, the second-warmest june in europe on record, shows a red band depicting high surface air temperatures stretching across much of the continent. heat waves were also recorded over western north america in june 2021. scorching temperatures and drought conditions contributed to wildfires in 2020 around napa and sonoma, the center of america's wine industry, where

fields were left blackened. in australia, the bush fires of 2019 and '20 burnt some vineyards to the ground, while smoke ruined the quality of the grapes. in 2017, in italy, spring frost, combined with hailstorms and a heat wave known as "lucifer," led to the lowest harvest in decades. particularly hard hit was northern and central italy, where prosecco, barolo and chianti are made. and in parts of chile and argentina, higher temperatures are pushing wine-growers to plant their vineyards at higher altitudes, where temperatures are cooler. greg jones says the warming atmosphere is also changing the grapes' growth cycle. >> jones: it accelerates that ripening to the point that we're picking earlier. for example, 2020, in burgundy, the picking date was august 20. and prior to that, we've been averaging for the last 30 years,

about september 15. and then, for 600 years before that, we were averaging the end of eptember, first of october. so, you can-- >> stahl: oh, so it's dramatic. >> jones: so it's pretty dramatic. >> stahl: these pages of parchment, documenting harvest dates going back as far as 1354, were found in the church of notre dame in burgundy. 1354. >> jones: it's a wonderful data record that we've been able to look at to better understand what climates were like back then, how it affected harvests, and what that looks like today. >> stahl: i'm smiling because i'm thinking, 1300s. i'm thinking, the monks were making wine. >> jones: well, exactly. >> stahl: the wine industry in france is so vital to the economy that the government has scientists studying ways to adapt and mitigate the changing environment. one route to adaptation is to introduce new grape varieties. experimental vineyards have been planted with vines from warmer- climate countries to see if they can grow here, so the grapes can

be blended in with the merlots, cabernets and other french wines. nathalie ollat is the director of the project at the bordeaux science institute of vine and wine. so, you're looking at grapes that come from southern regions that maybe grow better in warmer climates? >> nathalie ollat: yes. >> stahl: like from where? >> ollat: from spain, from portugal, from greece. >> stahl: how many are you actually looking at? >> ollat: so, in this experimental vineyard, we are studying 52 different varieties. >> stahl: they've chosen six of those varieties thus far to be planted in bordeaux. so, this is your greenhouse? >> ollat: yes. this-- it is. >> stahl: a second route of adaptation is genetic breeding. are you actually creating new grapes; new, different kinds of grapes? >> ollat: yes. the idea is to have grapes, new varieties which can be resistant to disease and also more adapted to climate change condition.

>> stahl: and do not compromise the distinctive qualities of the french wines. at the institute's laboratory, scientists are studying the genetics of wine's color, aroma and taste. and that's what you're trying to preserve even as you introduce new grapes? >> ollat: yes. i think we-- we want to change without changing, i would say. >> stahl: yes! how confident are you that you're going to crack the puzzle; you're going to figure out how to stay ahead of climate change? >> ollat: all together, with new varieties, new growing practice, i think we can-- we can cope with climate change, at least until the-- the middle of the 21st century. >> stahl: the middle of the century is only 30 years from now. >> ollat: yeah, yeah. >> stahl: so, you're looking at how fast temperatures are rising, and you're saying it's possible that they will rise

above a point where you can't... >> ollat: that it-- it-- it will be much more complicated to keep what we call bordeaux style and bordeaux taste. >> stahl: with all the gloom and doom about warming temperatures in wine country, there's actually a surprising upside. what about quality? what about the taste? what's important about wine? how is climate change affecting that? >> lurton: alors, the climate change is affecting the quality very positively. >> stahl: positively? >> lurton: yes, ex-- exactly. we have never seen such a large quantity of good vintages of bordeaux wines. >> stahl: well, explain that. that's counterintuitive. >> lurton: thanks to the global warming and the climate change, now we have warmer summers and which means that our grapes are ripening better. if we get good, warm conditions, we have good color quantity in the-- in the skin.

but, as well, we have the right amount of sugar. >> stahl: what a painful irony-- the taste improves just as the yields are shrinking for winemakers like christine sevillano. so, more quality, but fewer grapes. dramatically fewer grapes. >> sevillano: yes. it's crazy. >> stahl: if you have another year like this one, financially, can you survive? >> sevillano: it will be difficult. really, really difficult. but at the same time, i'm trustful for next year. i mean, i'm trustful. i have to. >> stahl: improved taste is not the only unforeseen benefit of climate change for some winemakers. how it's affecting the bubbly you are likely to enjoy on new year's eve, when we return. ( ticking )

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>> stahl: for some winegrowers, climate change has been a disaster, as we've seen. but, as it turns out, climate change has been a boon for others. while higher temperatures have hurt growers in france and italy, for instance, places that historically have been too cold to produce quality wines are now turning out consistently good ones. places like england. the notion that in england the only beverage is lukewarm ale at the pub is woefully outdated. today, a new industry has taken

root. healthy vineyards in england are producing some of the world's best wines. this sprawling vineyard with acres and acres of wine grapes ready for harvest is located in kent, 40 miles outside of london. it didn't exist 15 years ago, but great britain's wine- producing fortunes have been heating up, along with the planet. so, how has climate change affected the grapes, the wine, in this region? >> stephen skelton: well, it's completely revolutionized it. >> stahl: stephen skelton, a member of the highly-respected institute of masters of wine, is a viticulturist, an expert in the science, production, and business of wine grapes. i never heard of really good english wine, i have to be honest with you. >> skelton: no, it was-- it was very, very rare, until we realized that you could grow these classic french champagne varieties in-- in our climate. >> stahl: this is what they grow in champagne? >> skelton: yeah. and they now grow very, very successfully here in the u.k.

>> stahl: what used to be a minute cottage industry run by retirees and gentleman farmers is today one of the fastest wine-growing regions in the world. this is quite an operation going on. >> skelton: oh, it's big. it's a big winery. >> stahl: in 2018, the vintage in england was so bountiful that some vineyards had to scramble to buy vats and tanks to hold it all. others simply threw grapes away. by the end of the decade, winemakers here will produce an estimated 20 million bottles a year. >> skelton: the foundation of today's industry is the fact that we can grow these varieties, which we couldn't grow earlier. >> stahl: so, why couldn't you do it before? >> skelton: because the-- the climate was too cold. >> stahl: you just had to get the temperature up and-- >> skelton: yeah. >> stahl: so, does global warming mean that england now has more days for the grapes to ripen? is that-- >> skelton: yeah, because we have more days over 85, 86 degrees fahrenheit. we are-- we are in the u.k. now.

we're now where champagne was 30 or 40 years ago. the climate has shifted in 30 or 40 years upwards; north. northwards. >> stahl: so, the climate, right now, where you and i are sitting in england, is the same as the climate was 40 years ago in france. >> skelton: in champagne. >> stahl: in champagne, france. >> skelton: in champagne. yeah. >> stahl: he traces the birth of the industry here to 1988. >> skelton: then there came two americans, the mosses-- stuart and sandy moss. they bought an estate called nyetimber, which is very well-known today, and they were the first people to plant a big, commercial vineyard. >> stahl: what did you think? >> skelton: i thought they were bonkers. i have to say. >> stahl: okay. >> skelton: yeah, i thought they were nuts. i heard they were rich americans from up in the hills. and he had a fortune from, apparently, dental. the dental business. and i thought they were mad. their first wine took-- took a long while to mature. it was four years in the making before it was tasted. and then it won this major prize. >> stahl: right away?

four years. >> skelton: yeah, yeah. and the next year, the second year, they won an even bigger prize. >> stahl: are you thinking that in a couple of years, the english sparkling wine will be actually better than what they're growing in champagne? >> skelton: they produce 300 million bottles a year. the best is still very, very good. the best is superb. but you could line up the best ten english sparkling wines against the best ten champagnes in the same sort of prize category; i can guarantee you the english wines would be-- would be in the top half. >> stahl: to prove his point, he gave us a taste, opening a ten-year-old bottle. >> skelton: we're going to open it... professionally. >> stahl: oh, no pop! >> skelton: no pop. >> stahl: look at that! the longer sparkling wine ages, he says, the better. and what you look for is the spritz of fizz on the palette. >> skelton: you see, you've got the bubbles coming from there. >> stahl: and that's a good thing. >> skelton: yeah. you see, they're nice and small. and then, you nose it. you get a nice, yeasty character. baking bread--

brioche, as we call it. and that's a gorgeous, gorgeous bottle of wine. >> stahl: winston churchill once said, "i could not live without champagne. in victory, i deserve it; in defeat, i need it!" well, nothing would have pleased him more than to hear that because english bubbly is now so good, the house of taittinger-- one of the most prestigious of french champagne makers-- is in england! it's now growing 120 acres of grapes and is making sparkling wine near canterbury, in what's known as "the garden of england." patrick mcgrath, who represents taittinger in great britain, persuaded the company to invest here in 2015. have you brought the grapes from france? >> patrick mcgrath: yeah. the-- the vines were imported from france as-- as tiny, little vines, and the first crop we had from them was in 2020. and then, that wine will be

released at the end of 2024. >> stahl: you know, in-- in france, part of the problem is not just warming; it's extreme weather conditions. you know, too much flooding, too much frost, too hot. won't england also have extreme situations like that? >> mcgrath: not at the moment. we're fortunate, you know. england is coming onto the radar as being an area that is warming, but is still moderate in terms of heat, compared to south and central europe, where it's becoming very, very hot. >> stahl: do you think that wine lovers around the world already know that great wines are coming out of england? in other words-- is it "ooh, la la" no more? it's "jolly good"? >> mcgrath: i think-- i think in-- we're still at the, sort of-- in the starting block. but, certainly, yes. over the last ten years the-- from a small base, the sales of english have been growing substantially.

>> stahl: taittinger's aim is to produce 300,000 bottles a year by 2025. overall, the english wine industry had $220 million in sales last year. the idea of first-rate english wine would have been laughed at 20 years ago, but a similar migration has happened on the west coast of the united states, where excellent and increasingly popular pinot and chardonnay grapes are now found 560 miles north of napa, in willamette valley, oregon. >> greg jones: in the 1950s and '60s, there were really almost no grapes grown in oregon. and that was because the climates were too cold. and so, if you fast forward to where we are today, we're just in a different world. >> stahl: greg jones, a wine climatologist at southern oregon university, says grapes are now growing in even more unexpected places. >> jones: we have wineries today in norway, in quebec, in-- in

british columbia, in tasmania, in-- in the south islands of-- of chile. >> stahl: tasmanian wine. >> jones: yeah, tasmania's really been burgeoning as really a great wine-producing region in australia. >> stahl: oh, well, that's interesting. tasmania is south of australia. >> jones: sure. >> stahl: so, as winemaking goes north in the northern hemisphere, are you saying it's going south... >> jones: south. yes, yeah. >> stahl: ...in the southern hemisphere? >> jones: yeah. it's going further poleward in both hemispheres. in parts of southern argentina and chile, and-- and parts of-- many parts of northern europe have started growing grapes. >> stahl: in real time. >> jones: in real time. >> stahl: so, if you really want a very vivid "now" example of what's happening due to climate change, go look at wine. >> jones: yeah, you can. people are experimenting at-- at northerly latitudes, that-- i'm amazed that in my career i didn't think i would see it. >> stahl: in the united kingdom, as a measure of its acceptance, english sparkling wine has had

the royal imprimatur, the queen serving it at buckingham palace. and it was poured at the recent climate change summit in scotland. master of wine stephen skelton is bullish on the future. if global warming is intensifying, how worried are you and the other english vintners that it's going to move north beyond your ability to grow good grapes? >> stephen skelton: no, i'm not worried at all. i mean, the next 40 years is going to be fascinating, i think. because, you know, we're just on the cusp of it being really commercial. our yield levels are not quite where we want them yet. you know, we would like a little bit more heat. >> stahl: you might get it. >> skelton: yeah. >> stahl: but eventually... >> skelton: who knows? we'll have to start growing oranges and bananas. >> stahl: i mean, it's a serious question. >> skelton: yeah. personally, i think we will cope with-- with what's being thrown at us. >> stahl: some of the winemakers we met are benefiting, some are suffering, but all are seeing

first-hand the message that climate change is delivering. >> jones: wine grapes have often been called the canary in the coal mine. >> stahl: climatologist greg jones says that's been true since the first wine was made in 6000 b.c. in eastern europe, and then spread to ancient egypt, greece, and persia. kings celebrated their victories with wine, and the christian world put it at the heart of the eucharist. wine history, jones says, is human history. >> jones: wine touches society in some pretty powerful ways. it's related to civilizations. it's related to history. it's related to geography. it's related to romanticism, art, gastronomy, biology, chemistry. so, there's so many things that are tied to it that it becomes something that we can-- we can tell the story of climate change through wine pretty easily. ( ticking ) >> from the "60 minutes" archive: how climate change is reshaping many facets of our

world. go to 60minutesovertime.com. there are many reasons for waiting to visit your doctor right now. but if you're experiencing irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue or light-headedness, don't wait to contact your doctor. because these symptoms could be signs of a serious condition like atrial fibrillation. which could make you about five times more likely to have a stroke. your symptoms could mean something serious, so this is no time to wait. talk to a doctor, by phone, online, or in-person.

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try my new $6.99 spicy cluck sandwich combo. from the 2022 winter olympics in beijing-- games that come wreathed in controversy. to many, china is a problematic host, given the country's human rights abuses and hard

authoritarian turn. one of the loudest voices condemning china is not a voice at all, but rather a hand. since self-exiling from china in 2009, the artist known simply as badiucao has used his work to take on the country's leader, xi jinping, specifically, and the regime more generally. like all the best political cartoonists, badiucao is alternately angry and playful as he calls attention to what he sees as china's brutality. it's come at a steep price; badiucao may never go home again. but on he goes, traveling the world using paint and wit, online and on walls, to draw truth to power. had you been in miami beach this fall, you'd be forgiven for walking by this plaza and thinking you'd encountered promotional billboards for the beijing winter olympics. but a closer look revealed a provocative visual argument for why china is unfit to host the

games. here was a chinese hockey player bloodying a tibetan monk; a chinese snowboarder atop a surveillance camera; a faceless chinese bi-athlete poised to execute a member of the uighur minority; a curler, representing china's delay in warning the world about covid. this was the handiwork of badiucao, a 35-year-old chinese exile now based in australia. i notice, if you look closely, those aren't conventional olympic rings. >> badiucao: they are actually made of barbed wire. that's exactly how china is going to use olympics-- not as a celebration for humanity, but actually use it as a platform to promoting its propaganda, which is fundamentally cracking down on people's basic rights. ( applause ) >> wertheim: badiucao had come to south florida to accept the human rights foundation's vaclav havel prize for creative dissent. what do you see as the purpose of your art?

>> badiucao: i sometimes just imagine i'm this kid who's holding a big rock and just throw the rock into the lake, so that we see all the splash, we see the change. >> wertheim: you throw your rock in this lake, see the splash, see where the ripples, ripple. >> badiucao: exactly. >> wertheim: china does not tolerate ripples. inside china, there are strict laws forbidding mocking and questioning leaders of the communist party, known as the c.c.p. even outside china, dissent does not go over well. do you feel in danger? do you feel unsafe? >> badiucao: well, this is actually my daily routine, that i will receive death threat in a daily basis, online, on my social media-- twitter, instagram, direct message. >> wertheim: badiucao knows that as an artist poking the chinese regime, he risks retaliation both against himself and his family back in china. for years, he hid behind a mask in public, working incognito, guerilla-style, both in australia and any time he

traveled. he adopted a pseudonym, badiucao-- a name that purposely, he says, has no meaning. how many people know your real name? >> badiucao: if you know i'm badiucao, then you don't know my real name. and if you know my real name, then you don't know i'm badiucao. >> wertheim: when the chinese figured out his real identity three years ago, badiucao initially went underground. but he took off his mask, and has continued hurling darts at the regime. in this recent cartoon, tennis star peng shuai confronts the reality of accusing a former vice premier of sexual assault. >> badiucao: i want to be an inspiring figure. i want my art to helping others to collecting courage and join me. but, if i giving up this, then what does it say to the rest of them? >> wertheim: what is t relationship between your popularity and your security? >> badiucao: i do think it has a very close relationship. >> wertheim: so, almost the more

popular you get, you're buying yourself an extra layer of security? >> badiucao: yeah. ( laughs ) and that's the only way that you can do it. >> wertheim: maybe so, but being popular also means his work has been scrubbed by censors inside china. what is it about your work that drives this regime crazy? >> badiucao: i guess it's this attitude that, i don't care about how serious you are, how dangerous you are. i'm just going to be myself. i am an individual. i'm not controlled by any authority, certainly not c.c.p. that scares them. because all they want is total control. >> wertheim: it sounds like you know exactly what buttons to push, what-- what levers to pull on, that's going to tweak them. >> badiucao: i guess it's not me finding the button, it's them offering the button to me. >> wertheim: one example among many: an internet meme surfaced comparing xi jinping and barack obama to winnie the pooh and tigger. no big deal, right?

china censored any mention or image linking xi to pooh. to badiucao, this was irresistible. he created a series of cartoons poking fun at xi's hardline stance against an animated disney character. what was it about winnie the pooh? why was that so effective? >> badiucao: because winnie the pooh is so loved by the public. it's so recognized. and when it's combined with xi jinping's image, then you have people ask questions: "why do you want to delete that yellow bear?" >> wertheim: you recognize the absurdity of this towering superpower being so offended by a benign yellow bear. >> badiucao: exactly. if you are in the democratic society, i think politician will be thrilled if they can compare with winnie the pooh instead of some evil character. but we're talking about china. >> wertheim: when xi was re- elected by china's parliament, the margin was 2,970 votes to 0. ( standing ovation )

and when xi got rid of term limits, allowing him to rule indefinitely, badiucao posted this tongue-in-cheek creation online he called "xi forever." when the communist party went to work on passing a resolution favorably equating xi to the dictator mao zedong, badiucao, armed with posters, homemade glue and a full satchel of outrage, went to work in manhattan. he compared xi to a magician conjuring chairman mao's spirit. >> badiucao: xi jinping has tried to portray himself as another mao zedong, another red sun of china. he wants to achieve what mao has achieved. he wants to be celebrated as this godlike figure, like mao enjoyed in his time. >> wertheim: it was by accident that badiucao became a leading critic of the chinese communist party. in 2007, he was a law student in his hometown of shanghai, watching a film online, when the movie abruptly switched to footage someone had secretly embedded depicting the 1989 student protests in

tiananmen square. ( protests ) >> badiucao: and that is actually the very first time i know this exists. >> wertheim: so, wait-- so you're in law school? you're in your 20s. >> badiucao: i am. >> wertheim: and the first time you're hearing about the tiananmen square massacre-- this worldwide news-- and the first time you're hearing about it is when randomly it's in a documentary you happen to see? >> badiucao: yeah. thanks to some, you know, clever dissident who made this happen. >> wertheim: your parents hadn't told you about this? >> badiucao: never. >> wertheim: teachers? >> badiucao: never. >> wertheim: discovering the truth about tiananmen square made badiucao want to leave china. ( gunfire ) it wasn't just what had happened; it was how easily the history was erased. in 2009, he re-settled to australia, gave up law, and started drawing, despite no formal training. he eventually branched out,

traveling and performing street art to highlight china's repression. in these scenes from the australian documentary "china's artful dissident," badiucao, still masked, posed in front of berlin's brandenburg gate. he was honoring one of the most taboo subjects in china: tank man, the nameless pro-democracy protester who stood in front of the chinese military in 1989. >> badiucao: tank man is the ghost haunting c.c.p. the most. >> wertheim: what does tank man represent? >> badiucao: it shows that any ordinary people or person could have the courage to stand in front of the most powerful object. >> wertheim: i know the image of tank man is always near you. >> badiucao: before the 25th anniversary of tiananmen massacre, i just want something on my right arm, the arm that i use to draw, as a reminder that this ordinary chinese guy, who just collect all the courage in the world and push himself in

front of the tank. he's fearless. >> wertheim: while in the u.s., badiucao connected with students who marched for democracy in tiananmen square. they are now middle-aged, exiled, and still bear scars. fang zheng lost his legs to a tank during the massacre. zhou fengsuo was among the first to enter tiananmen square, and one of the last to leave. the former students see badiucao keeping alive their ideals. >> zhou fengsuo: it's important for the next generation to carry the torch on. and i see this hope in him. and he's so creative. >> wertheim: that's how you feel, he's carrying the torch for what your generation started? >> zhou: yes. definitely. >> wertheim: as a protest leader, zhou became the fifth-most wanted man in china. he spent a year in jail, then fled to the u.s. in the mid-90s. zhou says china doesn't know how to handle badiucao.

>> zhou: chinese influence over the world, it's so pervasive. and they can control anything-- for example, you know, u.s. companies-- but still they cannot change badiucao. this one, single person who can always come out with endless arts challenging the authority. >> wertheim: you're saying the chinese communist party can pressure companies and other nations, but they can't... >> zhou: they can't change this person. >> wertheim: ...pressure this guy. >> zhou: yeah. that's the spirit of tank man, the person, versus totalitarian nation. he's definitely a thorn in their eye. >> wertheim: badiucao may be a lone dissident taking on the world's largest government, but he is convinced his is no exercise in futility. you said you admire the mythological figure, sisyphus. >> badiucao: right. >> wertheim: what'd you mean by that? >> badiucao: his mission seems, like, doomed. that he will never push the rock to the very top of the mountain.

it's a bit like me when i'm creating artworks to challenge the chinese regime. i don't know when it will be changed, or i don't know if my work will change it at all. but even if that is a reality, does it mean my work has no meaning? i don't think so. >> wertheim: in september, badiucao brought out his paintbrush to convey his outrage for china's crackdown on hong kong. fashioning hong kong's leader, carrie lam, as a puppet of xi jinping, badiucao melded their faces. last month, in northern italy, a center of art, that combined image greeted visitors, as badiucao held his first major solo exhibition in the city of brescia. it almost didn't happen. at the last minute, china tried to flex its muscle. >> badiucao: they're actually writing threatening letters. it's like a blackmailing, you know?

"if you do badiucao's show, then maybe in the future our collaboration will be problematic." >> wertheim: specifically, the chinese embassy in rome demanded the show be cancelled because the exhibition was "full of anti-chinese lies;" would" seriously wound the feelings of the chinese people;" and posed" a threat to friendly relations between china and italy." the italian authorities held firm, and the show went on. there was a nod to what badiucao sees as xi's willfully slow response to covid, and he paid homage to the uighur minority that china has imprisoned. to what extent are you representing the people that can't express themselves inside china? >> badiucao: i think this is the reality, that chinese people do not have a sense of safety that they can speak freely. but i am in this very privileged position that i'm not in china, so i have every responsibility to make my voice to be heard, to become their voices. ( ticking )

welcome to cbssportshq. reported by progressive insurance. >> scores from the nfl today. did his best as the bills set up as hateers. the bengals beat baltimore, and carving up carolina to carve up the south, and the rams seize a play-off spot. eight straight for the chiefs who tell the steelers to get off. who tell the steelers to get off. go to cbssportshq.domecom.ho paper tickets. we're off to a horrible start. ...but we can overcome it. we're not gonna point out our houses, landmarks, or major highways during takeoff. don't buy anything. i packed so many delicious snacks. -they're -- -nope. would you say, ballpark, when group two is gonna get boarded? 2 hours and 58 minutes. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents,

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we'll be back in two weeks with an all-new edition of "60 minutes." have a happy and healthy new year. ( ticking ) growing up in a little red house, on the edge of a forest in norway, there were three things my family encouraged: kindness, honesty and hard work. over time, i've come to add a fourth: be curious.

be curious about the world around us, and then go. go with an open heart, and you will find inspiration anew. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

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