What do socially engaged art projects look like in the PRC? And how do they practice in a complex Chinese political reality? This talk is concerned with socially engaged art practices in the PRC, focusing on a smaller set of radical art practices that attach significant importance to forging mutual relationships with like-minded communities across East Asia. Based in the notion of mutual aid, they propose work-study groups and sharing sessions, initiate new modes of distribution, and develop practices of how to organize in common as a collective. They promote smaller units, such as the commune, the autonomous youth house, the art space or the farm, understanding the platform of the collective as vehicle for the formation of new social bonds. In this talk, I will show how some of these projects practice in the face of power and people in a complex Chinese reality.