How to Catch the Fire Dragon

Since 2000, the People’s Republic of China has jammed selected foreign radio broadcasts, particularly shortwave transmissions from Taiwan. Its system continuously transmits twelve traditional Chinese opera pieces via satellite and can shift frequencies and time slots to track and disrupt target signals. The use of traditional cultural forms and seamless technical design often makes these interventions difficult for listeners to detect. Owing to its distinctive sound pattern and wide coverage, radio enthusiasts have nicknamed the jamming signal ‘Firedrake’ — the fire dragon.

‘How to Catch the Fire Dragon’ reveals the hidden mechanisms of signal control and interference. Designer Kai-Hsiang Wen has created a modified radio antenna that physically sways in response to incoming jamming signals. The project renders invisible geopolitical tensions in the airwaves perceptible, exposing how the radio spectrum is used as a tool for political control and border enforcement.