Voluntas behavior of the participating activists.Furthermore,DV has long been a taboo topic, traditionally confined to the private realm.Performance art advocacy pulls this taboo topic into the public arena.The strategic framing of both actions was aimed at easing their explosive character.Activists applied several framing strategies to portray themselves as supporters of the CCP and the official party line;in this sense, they followed the example of the professional ADV organizations. Harmonious society(和谐社会)is one of the central social and political leitmotifs propagated by the CCP to ensure social and political stability.The CCP still spends considerable amounts of financial resources on the establishment of the slogan of harmonious society as an important pillar of Chinese society(Holbig and Gilley 2010). Activists conducting performance art advocacy consciously used this leitmotif to legitimize their claims (Interview 7).The signs carried during the Injured Brides activism through Qianmen pedestrian street stated Violence Free Zone:Equality is the Precondition of Harmony(暴力无特区平：平等才和谐)，not only associating DV with ongoing gender inequality in the PRC,but also claiming that a harmonious society can only be possible by establishing gender equality.The activists thus framed their public disturbance activity as supportive of official state party propaganda. Regarding the Injured Brides action,the activists selected internationally accepted symbolic dates:Valentine's Day and V Day.Through this association, the activists sought to increase the legitimacy of their actions-perhaps particularly through the association with V Day,which is evocative of the Beijing Platform for Action that aimed to reduce violence against women (United Nations 1996a). The activists supporting Kim Lee adopted elements of official propaganda by using a red banner with their slogan Zero Tolerance For Domestic Violence on it.By using this poignant red banner,the activists sought to increase the legitimacy of their actions by mimicking the character of an official CCP-staged event.From this perspective,we may also understand the theft of the banner as robbing the activists of their symbolic legitimacy. Despite the fact that disturbance of social order was a central element to both actions,the framing strategies employed aimed to portray the actions as non- challenging and supportive to the CCP.As such,they mirrored the framing strategies of the professional ADV organizations,which always attempt to refrain from provocative strategies. But how did the target group of the events-the media-(re)view the actions? The following section is dedicated to analyzing media coverage of both actions. Stirring Up the Public?Media Responses to Both Actions Performance art advocacy is thought to be an effective strategy for gaining media attention due to its public,visual character,and its disturbance of social order.This tactical innovation is usually designed not for possible bystanders but for media representatives,who are invited by activists (Interviews 7 and 8).The underlying rationale is that while mobilizing one bystander gains one more supporter, mobilizing a media representative can potentially reach millions of people and mobilize broad social support (Interview 8): 2Springerbehavior of the participating activists. Furthermore, DV has long been a taboo topic, traditionally confined to the private realm. Performance art advocacy pulls this taboo topic into the public arena. The strategic framing of both actions was aimed at easing their explosive character. Activists applied several framing strategies to portray themselves as supporters of the CCP and the official party line; in this sense, they followed the example of the professional ADV organizations. Harmonious society (和谐社会) is one of the central social and political leitmotifs propagated by the CCP to ensure social and political stability. The CCP still spends considerable amounts of financial resources on the establishment of the slogan of harmonious society as an important pillar of Chinese society (Holbig and Gilley 2010). Activists conducting performance art advocacy consciously used this leitmotif to legitimize their claims (Interview 7). The signs carried during the Injured Brides activism through Qianmen pedestrian street stated Violence Free Zone: Equality is the Precondition of Harmony (暴力无特区平: 平等才和谐), not only associating DV with ongoing gender inequality in the PRC, but also claiming that a harmonious society can only be possible by establishing gender equality. The activists thus framed their public disturbance activity as supportive of official state party propaganda. Regarding the Injured Brides action, the activists selected internationally accepted symbolic dates: Valentine’s Day and V Day. Through this association, the activists sought to increase the legitimacy of their actions—perhaps particularly through the association with V Day, which is evocative of the Beijing Platform for Action that aimed to reduce violence against women (United Nations 1996a). The activists supporting Kim Lee adopted elements of official propaganda by using a red banner with their slogan Zero Tolerance For Domestic Violence on it. By using this poignant red banner, the activists sought to increase the legitimacy of their actions by mimicking the character of an official CCP-staged event. From this perspective, we may also understand the theft of the banner as robbing the activists of their symbolic legitimacy. Despite the fact that disturbance of social order was a central element to both actions, the framing strategies employed aimed to portray the actions as non￾challenging and supportive to the CCP. As such, they mirrored the framing strategies of the professional ADV organizations, which always attempt to refrain from provocative strategies. But how did the target group of the events—the media—(re)view the actions? The following section is dedicated to analyzing media coverage of both actions. Stirring Up the Public? Media Responses to Both Actions Performance art advocacy is thought to be an effective strategy for gaining media attention due to its public, visual character, and its disturbance of social order. This tactical innovation is usually designed not for possible bystanders but for media representatives, who are invited by activists (Interviews 7 and 8). The underlying rationale is that while mobilizing one bystander gains one more supporter, mobilizing a media representative can potentially reach millions of people and mobilize broad social support (Interview 8): Voluntas 123