Abstract: Modern graffiti originated from the western world. In recent years it also appeared in China's urban spaces, and caused a lot of social problems. The article analyzed the research achievements at home and abroad, explicated that one important effect of graffiti is constructing and changing place meanings. Known as Kowloon Emperor, Tsang Tsou Choi was one famous graffitist in Hong Kong. The article discussed different defines of Tsang’s graffiti by Hong Kong Government, cultural elites and Tsang himself in three periods, tried to use politics of scale theory to explain different circumstances of Tsang’s graffiti in those periods. The conclusion is the protection of Tsang’s graffiti by Hong Kong Government after Tsang's death did not mean that the government recognized Tsang’s graffiti as art, but the compromise with cultural elites when facing their scale-up strategy. Finally, the article discussed the prospect of applying politics of scale theory to the problem of graffiti in the current Chinese cities.

Key words: graffiti, politics of scale, scale-down, scale-up