Protest and dissent in China

Tens of thousands of protests occur each year in the PRC.{{Rp|page=102}} Generally, they are driven by local disputes as opposed to national issues.{{Rp|page=102}} The most common sources of protests are unpaid wage issues, disputes over compensation for land development, local environmental activism, or NIMBY activism.{{Rp|page=103}} Protests often result in at least partial success in achieving their objectives.{{Rp|page=103}}

The number of annual protests has grown steadily since the early 1990s, from approximately 8,700 "mass group incidents" in 1993{{Cite journal |last=Tanner |first=Murray Scot |date=June 2004 |title=China rethinks unrest |url=https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/twq/sum2004/twq_sum2004h.pdf |url-status=live |journal=The Washington Quarterly |language=en |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=137–156 |doi=10.1162/016366004323090304 |issn=0163-660X |s2cid=154544715 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230731080230/https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/twq/sum2004/twq_sum2004h.pdf |archive-date=31 July 2023 |access-date=19 September 2023}} to over 87,000 in 2005.{{Cite news |date=September 29, 2005 |title=The cauldron boils |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/asia/2005/09/29/the-cauldron-boils |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=2023-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028201014/http://www.economist.com/node/4462719 |archive-date=28 October 2017 |issn=0013-0613}} In 2006, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated the number of annual mass incidents to exceed 90,000, and Chinese sociology professor Sun Liping estimated 180,000 incidents in 2010.{{Cite web |title=The accuracy of China's 'mass incidents' |url=https://www.ft.com/content/9ee6fa64-25b5-11df-9bd3-00144feab49a |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200313191032/https://www.ft.com/content/9ee6fa64-25b5-11df-9bd3-00144feab49a |archive-date=13 March 2020 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=Financial Times}}{{cite news |last=Forsythe |first=Michael |date=6 March 2011 |title=China's Spending on Internal Police Force in 2010 Outstrips Defense Budget |publisher=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-06/china-s-spending-on-internal-police-force-in-2010-outstrips-defense-budget.html |url-status=live |access-date=16 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221043433/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-06/china-s-spending-on-internal-police-force-in-2010-outstrips-defense-budget.html |archive-date=21 December 2011}} Mass incidents are defined broadly as "planned or impromptu gathering that forms because of internal contradictions", and can include public speeches or demonstrations, physical clashes, public airings of grievances, and other group behaviors that are seen as disrupting social stability.{{Cite news |last=Ran |first=Tao |date=2011-12-16 |title=China's land grab is undermining grassroots democracy |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/dec/16/china-land-grab-undermining-democracy |url-status=live |access-date=2023-09-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111223082439/http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/16/china-land-grab-undermining-democracy |archive-date=23 December 2011 |issn=0261-3077}}

Despite the increase in protests, some scholars have argued that they may not pose an existential threat to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule because they lack "connective tissue";{{Cite book |last=Shambaugh |first=David L. |title=China's Communist Party: Atrophy and Adaptation |date=2008-04-02 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93469-6 |pages=32 |language=en |author-link=David Shambaugh}} the preponderance of protests in China are aimed at local-level officials, and only a select few dissident movements seek systemic change.{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Teresa |title=Accepting Authoritarianism: State-Society Relations in China's Reform Era |date=2020-12-31 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-7425-3 |doi=10.1515/9780804774253 |s2cid=240923196}} In a study conducted by Chinese academic Li Yao, released in 2017, the majority of protests which were non-controversial did not receive much if any negative police action, which is to say police may have been present but in no more capacity than Western police would be attending to a protest/mass gathering event. The idea that Chinese do not protest or would be brutally repressed for any kind of political action does not seem to be supported by existing data.{{Cite journal |last=Li |first=Yao |date=April 2019 |title=A Zero-Sum Game? Repression and Protest in China |journal=Government and Opposition |language=en |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=309–335 |doi=10.1017/gov.2017.24 |issn=0017-257X |s2cid=148625534}}

Protests targeting specific, local grievances, and where citizens propose actionable remedies, are more likely to succeed than alternative forms of protests.{{Cite book |last=Cai |first=Yongshun |title=Collective Resistance in China: Why Popular Protests Succeed or Fail |date=2010 |publisher=Stanford Univ. Press |isbn=978-0-8047-6340-0 |series=Studies of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center |location=Stanford, Calif}}

As the rights consciousness of the Chinese populace has grown since the 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of citizens have adopted semi-institutionalized forms of protest known as rightful resistance, whereby they make use of the court system, petitioning channels, or of central government decrees and policies to bring grievances against local authorities.{{Cite book |last1=O'Brien |first1=Kevin J. |title=Rightful Resistance in Rural China |last2=Li |first2=Lianjiang |date=2006-02-13 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-86131-1 |edition=1 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511791086}}

The failure of semi-institutionalized means of protest can eventually lead citizens to adopt more overt and public forms of resistance, such as sit-ins, picketing, coordinated hunger strikes,Eva Pils, [http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2065&context=ilj&sei-redir=1#search=%22gao%20zhisheng%20hunger%20strike%22 'Asking the Tiger for His Skin: Rights Activism in China'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130145837/http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2065&context=ilj&sei-redir=1#search=%22gao%20zhisheng%20hunger%20strike%22 |date=30 November 2016 }}, Fordham International Law Journal, Volume 30, Issue 4 (2006). or marches.

An analysis of World Values Survey data from 2007, 2012-2013, and 2018 found that the signing of a petition was the most common form of protest activity reported by Chinese respondents.{{Cite book |last=He |first=Lingnan |url=https://www.fulcrum.org/concern/monographs/vx021h696 |title=China as Number One? The Emerging Values of a Rising Power |last2=Yang |first2=Dali L. |date=2024 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-07635-2 |editor-last=Zhong |editor-first=Yang |series=China Understandings Today series |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |chapter=Political Participation in China: Social Surveys as Windows to Chinese Political Attitude and Behavior |format=EPUB |editor-last2=Inglehart |editor-first2=Ronald |editor-last3=}}{{Rp|pages=119, 128}} Among the years analyzed, the amount of respondents who had signed a petition or might sign a petition was its highest in 2018 at 52%.{{Rp|page=128}}

In isolated instances disaffected citizens have turned to rioting, bombings of government buildings and related targets,{{Cite news |title=Chinese bomber receives outpouring of sympathy online |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0527/Chinese-bomber-receives-outpouring-of-sympathy-online |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0882-7729 |archive-date=28 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028201205/https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0527/Chinese-bomber-receives-outpouring-of-sympathy-online |url-status=live }} or suicide as a form of protest.{{Cite news |date=2023-05-21 |title=China's real estate bubble and its victims |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chinas-real-estate-bubble-and-its-victims/2011/06/08/AGJa5caH_story.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=7 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107113910/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/chinas-real-estate-bubble-and-its-victims/2011/06/08/AGJa5caH_story.html |url-status=live }} In December 2011, residents of the village of Wukan expelled CCP authorities following land requisition protests.{{Cite web |date=2011-12-14 |title=Rebel Chinese village of Wukan 'has food for ten days' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8955295/Rebel-Chinese-village-of-Wukan-has-food-for-ten-days.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=The Daily Telegraph |language=en |archive-date=4 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171204231638/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8955295/Rebel-Chinese-village-of-Wukan-has-food-for-ten-days.html |url-status=live }}

In the case of nationalist protests, citizens have engaged in boycotts against foreign goods or companies,{{Cite news |date=2008-04-15 |title=Carrefour faces China boycott bid |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7347918.stm |access-date=2023-09-19 |archive-date=28 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028202342/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7347918.stm |url-status=live }} officially sanctioned marches, and occasionally targeted foreign embassies for violence.{{Cite web |date=May 9, 1999 |title=China gives green light to embassy protests |url=http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9905/09/china.protests.02/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=CNN |archive-date=11 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170311004546/http://edition.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9905/09/china.protests.02/ |url-status=dead }}

Technology has become an increasingly important part of the arsenal of Chinese protesters and dissidents. Some protests occur almost entirely in the realm of online activism and engagement, taking the form of citizens signing online petitions, issuing statements online rejecting the CCP, of signing support for dissident manifestos like Charter 08. Cyber-vigilantes make use of the internet to publicize and publicly shame government officials and others who are perceived as corrupt, have committed human rights abuses, or have otherwise offended collective values. Text messages have also been used to organize and coordinate protests.{{Cite news |last=Yardley |first=Jim |date=2005-04-25 |title=A Hundred Cellphones Bloom, and Chinese Take to the Streets |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/world/asia/a-hundred-cellphones-bloom-and-chinese-take-to-the-streets.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=9 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009053817/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/25/international/asia/25china.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Sydell |first=Laura |date=July 11, 2008 |title=Free Speech In China? Text Me |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2008/07/11/92158761/free-speech-in-china-text-me |access-date=September 20, 2023 |archive-date=18 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230618164357/https://www.npr.org/2008/07/11/92158761/free-speech-in-china-text-me |url-status=live }}

According to a 2011 survey conducted by Landesa, in cooperation with Renmin University of China and Michigan State University, which covered 1,791 households in 17 provinces, "about 43 percent" of villagers across China report being the victims of land grabs by the Government, which then sold it to private developers at an average cost of 40x higher per acre than the government paid to the villagers. The same survey claims that, "according to Chinese researchers", an estimated 65 percent of the 180,000 annual "mass incidents" in China stem from grievances over forced land requisitions. Together with their previous surveys, Landesa observes a steady increase in the number of forced land requisitions since 2005. They also estimate that, every year, local government expropriates the land of approximately 4 million rural Chinese citizens.{{Cite web |last=Economy |first=Elizabeth |author-link=Elizabeth Economy |date=February 7, 2012 |title=A Land Grab Epidemic: China's Wonderful World of Wukans |url=https://www.cfr.org/blog/land-grab-epidemic-chinas-wonderful-world-wukans |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en |archive-date=11 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211155104/http://blogs.cfr.org/asia/2012/02/07/a-land-grab-epidemic-chinas-wonderful-world-of-wukans/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.landesa.org/china-survey-6/ |title=Landesa 6th 17-Province China Survey - Landesa |access-date=6 September 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326121546/https://www.landesa.org/china-survey-6/ |url-status=live }}

Labor protests in China's industrial sector are common, as migrant workers resist low wages or poor working conditions. There are trade unions in China, but they consist of CCP cadres.[http://old.solidar.ch/news-1.html?dtl=2206 Verdoppelung der Streiks in China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160802073125/http://old.solidar.ch/news-1.html?dtl=2206 |date=2 August 2016 }}, Solidar Suisse, 2 February 2015, retrieved 26 October 2017Stefanie Elbern, [https://www.stimmen-aus-china.de/2017/04/07/streiken-in-china-gewusst-wie/ Streiken in China: Gewusst wie, Stimmen aus China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028201656/https://www.stimmen-aus-china.de/2017/04/07/streiken-in-china-gewusst-wie/ |date=28 October 2017 }}, Stiftung Asienhaus, 7 April 2017, retrieved 26 October 2017 Trade unions are supposedly an extension of the CCP in companies, factories and general management.Peter Franke, [https://www.welt-sichten.org/artikel/20425/es-gaert-chinas-fabriken Es gärt in Chinas Fabriken] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028201511/https://www.welt-sichten.org/artikel/20425/es-gaert-chinas-fabriken |date=28 October 2017 }}, Welt-Sichten, 23 January 2014, retrieved 26 October 2017Simon Lang, [https://www.merics.org/presse/pressemitteilungen/chinas-fuehrung-muss-gesellschaftliche-destabilisierung-fuerchten/ Chinas Führung muss gesellschaftliche Destabilisierung fürchten, Anhaltende Spannungen durch Streiks in China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028201105/https://www.merics.org/presse/pressemitteilungen/chinas-fuehrung-muss-gesellschaftliche-destabilisierung-fuerchten/ |date=28 October 2017 }}, Merics (Mercator Institute for China Studies), 2013, retrieved 26 October 2017Nora Sausmikat, [https://www.asienhaus.de/archiv/china/euchinanet/newsletter/eu-china-newsletter_2-2016.htm Europa – Asien, Gemeinsam für eine gerechte Welt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222214046/http://www.asienhaus.de/archiv/china/euchinanet/newsletter/eu-china-newsletter_2-2016.htm |date=22 December 2016 }}, Stiftung Asienhaus, EU – China Newsletter, 17 March 2016, retrieved 26 October 2017

Disputes over unpaid wages are among the most common causes of protest in China.{{Cite book |last=Šebok |first=Filip |title=Contemporary China: a New Superpower? |publisher=Routledge |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-03-239508-1 |editor-last=Kironska |editor-first=Kristina |chapter=Social Control and Propaganda |editor-last2=Turscanyi |editor-first2=Richard Q.}}{{Rp|page=103}}

In the late 1990s, layoffs from state-owned enterprises (sometimes without the promised compensation or pensions to those laid off) led to worker protests.{{Cite book |last=Hirata |first=Koji |title=Making Mao's Steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism |date=2024 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-009-38227-4 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China series |location=New York, NY}}{{Rp|page=283}}

In March 2010, employees of the Chinese Honda plant went on a strike, demanding a pay raise and a self-chosen union. One employee mentioned that Honda had been willing to compromise, but the government in Guangdong had spoken out against wage increases, fearing that similar demands could be made in other companies.[http://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Honda-Mitarbeiter-kaempfen-weiter-article919358.html Streikwelle in China, Honda-Mitarbeiter kämpfen weiter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225080421/http://www.n-tv.de/wirtschaft/Honda-Mitarbeiter-kaempfen-weiter-article919358.html |date=25 February 2021 }}, n-tv.de , dpa, 13 June 2010, retrieved 26 October 2017 According to media reports, the number of workers' strikes rose to a record level in 2015. The China Labor Bulletin mentioned 2,509 strikes and protests by workers and employees in China. The main reason for these strikes is said to have been because of many factory closures and layoffs.[http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/china-zahl-der-streiks-und-proteste-stark-gestiegen-a-1067894.html Zahl der Streiks in China wächst rasant] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160321113508/http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/china-zahl-der-streiks-und-proteste-stark-gestiegen-a-1067894.html |date=21 March 2016 }}, Spiegel Online, 15 December 2015, retrieved 26 October 2017

In 2011, many migrant workers did not return to their workplace in Guangzhou, in southern China, after the New Year holidays. The reason for this is said to have been that more job opportunities had been created in the hitherto poorer provinces. Thus, many no longer had to go to other areas to work and earn a living. It is said to have been 30 to 40 percent fewer migrant workers, normally 10 to 15 percent, although China's authorities had raised the minimum wages.Kelvin Chan, [https://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/article108008051/Chinas-Tage-als-Zentrum-der-Billigproduktion-sind-gezaehlt.html Chinas Tage als Zentrum der Billigproduktion sind gezählt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029014239/https://www.abendblatt.de/wirtschaft/article108008051/Chinas-Tage-als-Zentrum-der-Billigproduktion-sind-gezaehlt.html |date=29 October 2017 }}, Hamburger Abendblatt, 26 April 2011, retrieved 26 October 2017 As a result, foreign companies moved their production facilities to Southeast Asia into "cheaper" provinces or even abroad. China experts at the investment bank Credit Suisse called this change a "historic turning point" both for China's economy and possibly for the world.

In February 2024, an estimated 3,000 North Koreans in China protested labor conditions and for the right to return to North Korea. These workers were contract laborers who were employed by a company affiliated with the North Korean military, and had been in China for an extended period of time due to the COVID-19 lockdowns and because the North Korean government wanted them to stay longer to generate more revenue.{{Cite news |last=Park |first=Ju-min |date=2024-02-08 |title=Signs of rare unrest among North Korean workers in China, researchers say |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/signs-rare-unrest-among-north-korean-workers-china-researchers-say-2024-02-08/ |access-date=2024-04-26 |work=Reuters |language=en}}

{{Chinese democracy movement}}

{{Further|Democracy movements of China}}

{{Main|Democracy Wall}}{{See also|Beijing Spring}}

The Democracy Wall movement of November 1978 to spring 1981 is usually regarded as the beginning of China's contemporary democracy movement.{{Cite journal |last=Paltemaa |first=Lauri |date=24 October 2007 |title=The Democracy Wall Movement, Marxist Revisionism, and the Variations on Socialist Democracy |journal=Journal of Contemporary China |language=en |volume=16 |issue=53 |pages=601–625 |doi=10.1080/10670560701562325 |issn=1067-0564 |s2cid=143933209}} The Democracy Wall movement focused on the elimination of bureaucratism and the bureaucratic class. Although Democracy Wall participants agreed that "democracy" was the means to resolve this conflict between the bureaucratic class and the people, the nature of the proposed democratic institutions was a major source of disagreement. A majority of participants in the movement favored viewed the movement as part of a struggle between correct and incorrect notions of Marxism. Many participants advocated classical Marxist views that drew on the Paris Commune for inspiration. The Democracy Wall movement also included non-Marxists and anti-Marxists, although these participants were a minority. Demands for "democracy" were frequent but without an agreed-upon meaning.{{Cite book |last=Wu |first=Yiching |url=https://archive.org/details/yiching-wu-the-cultural-revolution-at-the-margins |title=The Cultural Revolution at the Margins: Chinese Socialism in Crisis |date=2014 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-41985-8 |location=Cambridge, Mass. |pages=213–215 |oclc=881183403}} Participants in the movement variously associated the concept of democracy with socialism, communism, liberal democracy, capitalism, and Christianity. They drew on a diverse range of intellectual resources "ranging from classical Marxist and socialist traditions to Enlightenment philosophers, [socialist] experiments in Yugoslavia, and Western liberal democracy." Significant documents of the Democracy Wall movement include The Fifth Modernization manifesto by Wei Jingsheng.{{Cite book |last=Kelemen |first=Barbara |title=Contemporary China: a New Superpower? |publisher=Routledge |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-03-239508-1 |editor-last=Kironska |editor-first=Kristina |chapter=Tiananmen 1989 |pages=40–46 |doi=10.4324/9781003350064-5 |editor-last2=Turscanyi |editor-first2=Richard Q.}}{{Rp|page=42}}

{{Main|1986 Chinese student demonstrations}}China's reform and opening up had major socio-economic impacts.{{Rp|page=42}} As living standards improved, the new business class and increasingly independent intellectuals sought further political and economic relaxation.{{Rp|page=42}} Simultaneously, public grievances developed as a mostly unitary society became more stratified, with uneven economic development and rising inflation which impacted the purchasing power of a large segment of the population.{{Rp|pages=42-43}} Generally, the resulting 1980s protest movement sought to gradually liberalize and open up Chinese Communist governance, as opposed to .{{Rp|page=43}}

In 1986 through 1987, students organized demonstrations arguing for a higher degree of political liberalization, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom.{{Rp|page=42}} This movement was influenced by intellectuals such as Wang Rowang and Fang Lizhi.{{Rp|page=42}}

{{Main|1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre}}

The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests arose in the context of the 1980s protest movement.{{Rp|pages=42-43}} The events began with sporadic student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing following the death of former reformist leader and CCP general secretary Hu Yaobang.{{Rp|page=40}} On 26 April, a front page editorial in People's Daily referred to the protests as anti-CCP rebellions, outraging the protestors who sought political concessions and official reassessment of their movement.{{Rp|page=44}} On 13 May 1989, thousands of student protestors began a hunger strike, disrupting the state visit of Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1989 Sino-Soviet Summit.{{Rp|page=40}} Protests spread to other cities and on 20 May, China declared martial law and deployed the army to Beijing.{{Rp|page=40}} Tensions escalated, and on 4 June the army violently suppressed the protests.{{Rp|page=40}} Thousands were likely killed,{{Rp|page=40}} although estimates vary.

The majority of protestors sought for the government to listen to their concerns, with few advocating for the overthrow of the CCP, although such demands increased as the protests continued.{{Rp|page=43}} On the government side, Zhao Ziyang sought to negotiate with protestors to resolve the situation.{{Rp|page=44}} Li Peng argued for suppressing the protests through martial law, and was joined by Deng Xiaoping who ordered its imposition.{{Rp|page=44}}

{{Main|2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests}}

In February 2011, a month of pro-democracy protests took place in Beijing, inspired by the Tunisian Revolution.{{Cite journal |last1=Franceschini |first1=Ivan |last2=Negro |first2=Gianluigi |date=2014-01-02 |title=The 'Jasmine Revolution' in China: the limits of the cyber-utopia |journal=Postcolonial Studies |language=en |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=23–35 |doi=10.1080/13688790.2014.912190 |s2cid=143625972 |issn=1368-8790}}

{{main|Wukan protests}}

In 2011, the village of Wukan temporarily threw out its unelected leaders, and elected its leadership for a period.{{Cite news |date=2016-09-13 |title=China's protest village of Wukan crushed |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-37351737 |access-date=2022-11-28 |archive-date=28 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128111308/https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-37351737 |url-status=live }}

{{main|Beijing Sitong Bridge protest}}

On 13 October 2022, a protest on Sitong Bridge in Beijing was held by a protestor who posted a banner on the bridge and burnt tyres. Information on the protest spread rapidly on online social media and was quickly censored by Chinese authorities.{{cite news | last1= Davidson | first1= Helen | title= 'We all saw it': anti-Xi Jinping protest electrifies Chinese internet | date= 2022-10-14 |newspaper= The Guardian | url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/14/we-all-saw-it-anti-xi-jinping-protest-electrifies-chinese-internet |access-date= 2022-10-14 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221014084020/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/14/we-all-saw-it-anti-xi-jinping-protest-electrifies-chinese-internet |archive-date= 2022-10-14 |url-status=live }}{{cite news | last1=Tan | first1=Yvette | title=China protest: Mystery Beijing demonstrator sparks online hunt and tributes | date= 2022-10-14 |newspaper= BBC News | url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63252559 |access-date= 2022-10-14 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20221014102333/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63252559 |archive-date= 2022-10-14 |url-status=live }}{{cite news | last1= Pollard | first1= Martin Quin | last2= Baptista | first2= Eduardo | title= Banners calling for Xi removal unveiled in rare protest in China | date= 2022-10-14 |newspaper= Sydney Morning Herald |agency=Thomson Reuters | url= https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/banners-calling-for-xi-removal-unveiled-in-rare-protest-in-china-20221014-p5bpvl.html |access-date= 2022-10-14 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20221014101548/https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/banners-calling-for-xi-removal-unveiled-in-rare-protest-in-china-20221014-p5bpvl.html |archive-date= 2022-10-14 |url-status=live }} Similar protest slogans subsequently appeared as graffiti in other cities{{Cite news |date=October 18, 2022 |title=Anti-Xi Slogans in Rare Beijing Protest Spread Within China |work=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-18/anti-xi-slogans-in-rare-beijing-protest-spread-within-china |access-date=October 18, 2022 |archive-date=18 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221018110555/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-18/anti-xi-slogans-in-rare-beijing-protest-spread-within-china |url-status=live }} in China and via AirDrop.{{Cite news |last=Cheung |first=Rachel |date=October 19, 2022 |title=Anti-Xi Jinping Posters Are Spreading in China via AirDrop |work=Vice News |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/anti-xi-jinping-posters-are-spreading-in-china-via-airdrop/ |access-date=October 19, 2022 |archive-date=19 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221019134948/https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxn7nq/anti-xi-jinping-posters-are-spreading-in-china-via-airdrop |url-status=live }}

{{Main|2022 COVID-19 protests in China}}

In November 2022, following the 2022 Ürümqi fire, solidarity protests against the government's Zero-COVID policies erupted in Ürümqi and across the country. In Shanghai, hundreds chanted "Step down, Xi Jinping! Step down, Communist Party!"{{Cite news |date=2022-11-27 |title=Protests erupt across China in unprecedented challenge to Xi Jinping's zero-Covid policy |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/26/china/china-protests-xinjiang-fire-shanghai-intl-hnk/index.html |access-date=2022-11-27 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=29 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221129003528/https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/26/china/china-protests-xinjiang-fire-shanghai-intl-hnk/index.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=2022-11-27 |title=China Covid: Protesters openly urge Xi to resign over China Covid curbs |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63771109 |access-date=2022-11-27 |archive-date=3 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203161456/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63771109 |url-status=live }}

{{Further|Persecution of Falun Gong}}

Among the most vocal and consistent opponents of the CCP rule in the last decade are practitioners of Falun Gong. Falun Gong is a qigong-based practice of meditation with a moral philosophy based on Buddhist traditions.{{cite web|url=http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/bpenny.html|title=The Past, Present, and Future of Falun Gong|last=Penny|first=Benjamin|year=2001|access-date=6 October 2009|quote=The best way to describe Falun Gong is as a cultivation system. Cultivation systems have been a feature of Chinese life for at least 2 500 years.|archive-date=25 March 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080325202921/http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/haroldwhite/papers/bpenny.html|url-status=dead}} It was popularized in China in the 1990s, and by 1999, it was estimated to have 70 million practitioners.{{Cite news |last=Faison |first=Seth |date=1999-04-27 |title=In Beijing: A Roar of Silent Protesters |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/27/world/in-beijing-a-roar-of-silent-protesters.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=14 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914022252/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/27/world/in-beijing-a-roar-of-silent-protesters.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Kahn |first=Joseph |date=1999-04-27 |title=Notoriety Now for Movement's Leader |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/27/world/notoriety-now-for-movement-s-leader.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=14 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914034537/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/27/world/notoriety-now-for-movement-s-leader.html |url-status=live }}

Some among the CCP's leadership were wary of the group's popularity, independence from the state, and spiritual philosophy, and from 1996 to 1999, the practice faced varying degrees of harassment from CCP authorities and Public Security Bureaus and criticism in the state-run media. Falun Gong practitioners responded to media criticism by picketing local government or media offices, and were often successful in gaining retractions.David Ownby. Falun Gong and the Future of China. Oxford University Press, 2008. One such demonstration in April 1999 was broken up by security forces in Tianjin, and several dozen Falun Gong practitioners were beaten and arrested. In response, on 25 April Falun Gong mobilized the largest demonstration in China since 1989, gathering silently outside the Zhongnanhai central government compound to request official recognition and an end to the escalating harassment against them.{{Cite web |last=Gutmann |first=Ethan |date=2009-07-01 |title=An Occurrence on Fuyou Street |url=https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2009/07/20/occurrence-fuyou-street/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=National Review |language=en-US |archive-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602185327/https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2009/07/20/occurrence-fuyou-street/ |url-status=live }} Falun Gong representatives met with Premier Zhu Rongji, and reached an agreement.James Tong, Revenge of the Forbidden City, Oxford University Press (2009) CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin reportedly criticized Zhu for being "too soft," however, and ordered that Falun Gong be defeated.{{Cite book |last=Schechter |first=Danny |url=https://archive.org/details/falungongschalle00sche |title=Falun Gong's Challenge to China: Spiritual Practice Or "evil Cult"? : a Report and Reader |date=2001 |publisher=Akashic Books |isbn=978-1-888451-27-6 |language=en}} On 20 July 1999, the CCP leadership initiated a campaign to eradicate the group through a combination of propaganda, imprisonment, torture, and other coercive methods.{{Cite web |date=2000-03-23 |title=China: The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called "heretical organizations" |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa17/011/2000/en/ |access-date=2023-09-19 |website=Amnesty International |language=en |archive-date=29 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729225340/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ASA17/011/2000/en/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite journal |date=2002-02-07 |title=Dangerous Meditation |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2002/02/07/dangerous-meditation/chinas-campaign-against-falungong |journal=Human Rights Watch |language=en |access-date=19 September 2023 |archive-date=26 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226005705/https://www.hrw.org/report/2002/02/07/dangerous-meditation/chinas-campaign-against-falungong |url-status=live }}

In the first two years of the crackdown, Falun Gong practitioners in China responded by petitioning local, provincial, and national appeals offices. Efforts at petitioning were often met with imprisonment, leading the group to shift tactics by staging daily, non-violent demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.Ian Johnson, [http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6464 "Defiant Falun Dafa Members Converge on Tiananmen"], The Wall Street Journal, 25 April 2000. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091229022658/http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6464 |date=29 December 2009 }} These demonstrations, which typically involved practitioners holding banners or staging meditation sit-ins, were broken up, often violently, by security agents.{{Cite news |last=Rosenthal |first=Elisabeth |date=2001-04-26 |title=Falun Gong Holds Protests On Anniversary of Big Sit-In |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/26/world/falun-gong-holds-protests-on-anniversary-of-big-sit-in.html |access-date=2023-09-19 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=10 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010012935/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/26/world/falun-gong-holds-protests-on-anniversary-of-big-sit-in.html |url-status=live }} By late 2001, Falun Gong largely abandoned protests in Tiananmen Square, but continued a quiet resistance against the persecution campaign. Although the group claims to have no political orientation or ambitions, it has since 2004 actively advocated for an end to CCP rule.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/challengingchina0000unse |title=Challenging China : struggle and hope in an era of change |date=2007 |publisher=New Press |isbn=978-1-59558-132-7 |chapter=The Falun Gong Phenomenon}}

{{Further|Anti-Japanese sentiment in China|China–Japan relations}}

Following the 1990 incident in which the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency intended to recognize as official a lighthouse built on the disputed Senkaku islands by a right-wing Japanese group, protests occurred in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and the United States.{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Frances Yaping |title=The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9780197757512 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197757505.001.0001}}{{Rp|pages=258-259}} The Chinese government prevented large scale protests in the PRC and censored news reports of protests by overseas Chinese (although British Broadcasting Corporation reports and Voice of America reports meant that the Chinese public continued to be aware of media reports on the issue).{{Rp|page=259}} In Beijing, students distributed handbills and put up posters criticizing the CCP for being "soft" on Japan.{{Rp|page=259}}

The 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations showcased anti-Japanese sentiment. These anti-Japan protests demonstrated the mood of the Chinese against Japan. These protests broke out in China and spread from Beijing to the southern province Guangdong. Demonstrators are said to have been furious about Japanese war history books and have thrown stones at the Japanese embassy in Beijing.{{Cite news |date=2005-04-10 |title=China's anti-Japan rallies spread |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4429809.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028203028/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4429809.stm |archive-date=28 October 2017 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} In 2005, a protest was held in Beijing against the distortion of Japan's wartime past and against Tokyo's candidacy for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.{{Cite news |last=Kahn |first=Joseph |date=2005-04-10 |title=Riot Police Called In to Calm Anti-Japanese Protests in China |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/world/riot-police-called-in-to-calm-antijapanese-protests-in-china.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107170314/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/10/world/riot-police-called-in-to-calm-antijapanese-protests-in-china.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} Several thousand Chinese are said to have marched through Beijing and called for a boycott of Japanese goods.{{Cite news |last=Kahn |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Kahn (journalist) |date=2005-04-09 |title=In Rare Legal Protest, Chinese Seek Boycott of Japan Goods |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/09/world/asia/in-rare-legal-protest-chinese-seek-boycott-of-japan-goods.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028201311/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/09/world/asia/in-rare-legal-protest-chinese-seek-boycott-of-japan-goods.html |archive-date=28 October 2017 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

{{Excerpt|2012 anti-Japanese demonstrations in China|only=paragraph|paragraphs=1}}

{{Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict}}

{{Main|Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict}}

Ever since Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, a number of social and political movements arose during the first two decades of Chinese rule in Hong Kong.

{{Excerpt|2014 Hong Kong protests|only=paragraph|paragraphs=1-3}}

The 2019–20 Hong Kong protests were a large series of demonstrations against the Hong Kong government’s introduction of a bill that would have made it legal for Hong Kong to extradite criminal suspects to mainland China. These protests were the largest in the history of Hong Kong. Protestors objected to the proposed bill on the grounds that the mainland PRC "justice system is marked by torture, forced confessions, arbitrary detentions and unfair trials."{{cite news |date=2019-06-17 |title=Hong Kong leader apologises for handling of extradition bill |newspaper=Al Jazeera English |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/hong-kong-leader-apologises-massive-protests-190616130155693.html |url-status=live |access-date=2019-07-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706105153/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/hong-kong-leader-apologises-massive-protests-190616130155693.html |archive-date=2019-07-06}} There were massive street protests and violent clashes between protesters and the police, with the 16 June protest consisting of 5 percent (according to the police) or 30 percent (according to the organizers) of the full 7 million population of Hong Kong. Months of demonstrations convinced the then Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to suspend the bill, however, the movement continued as her government refused to answer the other four demands made by protesters. The protests eventually reached a halt when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading to the enactment of the Hong Kong national security law and a series of crackdowns on pro-democracy protesters, activists, and news media.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

Protests against the United States were held in China during the Cuban Missile Crisis.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Hongshan |title=Fighting on the Cultural Front: U.S.-China Relations in the Cold War |date=2024 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231207058 |location=New York, NY |doi=10.7312/li--20704 |jstor=10.7312/li--20704}}{{Rp|page=233}}

In 2011, the "October Rising" seller protest against e-commerce platform company Taobao occurred.{{Cite book |last=Liu |first=Lizhi |title=From Click to Boom: The Political Economy of E-Commerce in China |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9780691254104}}{{Rp|page=41}} With the goal of reducing counterfeits and substandard products, Taobao had increased the Taobao Mall membership fees for sellers and their required cash deposits.{{Rp|page=41}} The rule changes were made without warning.{{Rp|page=41}} Approximately 50,000 sellers formed the "anti-Taobao alliance" for digital protest actions and in-person protest at Alibaba's headquarters.{{Rp|page=41}} The Chinese government mediated the dispute, resulting in Taobao revising its seller fees and providing 1.8 billion RMB in support for small businesses using the platform.{{Rp|page=41}}

Following the 2016 result of the South China Sea arbitration, Kentucky Fried Chicken ("KFC") restaurants in Chinese cities became locations for public protests.{{Rp|page=126}} Protestors denounced what they viewed as United States interference in China's sovereignty issues.{{Rp|page=126}} Viewing KFC as symbolic of American presence in China, the protestors called for a boycott of the restaurant chain.{{Rp|page=126}}

Until early 2018, there were widespread protests by military veterans in China seeking better pensions and other benefits.{{Cite book |last=Li |first=David Daokui |author-link=David Daokui Li |title=China's World View: Demystifying China to Prevent Global Conflict |date=2024 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0393292398 |location=New York, NY |pages=187}} A frequent protest tactic was to demonstrate at tourist sites. In response to the protests, the central government established the Ministry of Veterans Affairs in March 2018.

Following public criticism and a 2018 inquiry from the State Administration of Market Regulation, the e-commerce company Pinduoduo increased efforts to prevent sales of counterfeit goods on its platform.{{Cite book |last=Zhang |first=Angela Huyue |title=High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9780197682258 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197682258.001.0001}}{{Rp|page=208}} Those efforts included a penalty on sellers of ten times the trading value of goods deemed counterfeit.{{Rp|page=208}} One thousand sellers responded with a protest in July 2018 at the company's headquarters, during which there were physical clashes between protestors and the company's security guards.{{Rp|page=208}}

{{See also|Internet censorship in China}}

A number of prominent Chinese dissidents, scholars, and rights defenders, and artists maintain blogs to which they post essays and criticisms of the CCP. One innovative use of the internet as a medium for protest was a video created by artist Ai Weiwei, in which different Chinese citizens were filmed reading the names of victims from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, who died due to poor school construction.{{Cite news |last=Cotter |first=Holland |date=2011-04-05 |title=An Artist Takes Role of China's Conscience |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/arts/design/ai-weiwei-takes-role-of-chinas-conscience.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171028202013/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/arts/design/ai-weiwei-takes-role-of-chinas-conscience.html |archive-date=28 October 2017 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Several high-profile instances of human rights abuses have sparked online protests. The 2009 arrest of 21-year-old Deng Yujiao, who killed a local government official in self-defense when he tried to sexually assault her, sparked outrage among Chinese netizens, resulting in some four million posts online.{{Cite news |last=Wines |first=Michael |date=2009-06-17 |title=Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/asia/17china.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107170325/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/asia/17china.html |archive-date=7 November 2017 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} As a result of the national outcry, police released Deng Yujiao on bail on May 26 and put her under house arrest.{{Cite news |last=Branigan |first=Tania |date=2009-05-27 |title=Chinese woman who killed official bailed after online outcry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/27/china-bails-deng-yujiao |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605234924/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/27/china-bails-deng-yujiao |archive-date=5 June 2016 |access-date=2024-09-30 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{cite news |last=Li |first=Raymond |date=10 June 2009 |title=Web of support |work=South China Morning Post |page=A11, 'Behind the News'}} Prosecutors reduced her charge to the lesser offense of "intentional assault" instead of murder.{{cite news |last=Lin |first=Jerran |author2=Moy, Patsy |author3=AFP |date=17 June 2009 |title=Heroic killer walks free |url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=83595&sid=24248616&con_type=3&d_str=20090617&sear_year=2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629125711/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=30&art_id=83595&sid=24248616&con_type=3&d_str=20090617&sear_year=2009 |archive-date=29 June 2011 |access-date=17 June 2009 |work=The Standard}}

Internet vigilantes dubbed human flesh search engines seek to exact justice against corrupt authorities or other individuals by posting personal information about the offenders, and inviting the public to use this information to humiliate and shame them.{{Cite news |last=Fletcher |first=Hannah |date=2023-09-19 |title=Human flesh search engines: Chinese vigilantes that hunt victims on the web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/asia-travel/china/human-flesh-search-engines-chinese-vigilantes-that-hunt-victims-on-the-web-jdnv7qbsl7t |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422012252/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/human-flesh-search-engines-chinese-vigilantes-that-hunt-victims-on-the-web-jdnv7qbsl7t |archive-date=22 April 2023 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=The Times |language=en |issn=0140-0460}}

In 2008, a pro-democracy manifesto authored by a group of intellectuals titled Charter 08 circulated online, eventually collecting approximately 10,000 signatures and earning one of its authors, Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize.{{Cite news |last1=Havel |first1=Vaclav |last2=Nemcova |first2=Dana |last3=Maly |first3=Vaclav |date=2010-09-20 |title=A Nobel Prize for a Chinese Dissident |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/opinion/21iht-edhavel.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012000905/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/opinion/21iht-edhavel.html |archive-date=12 October 2022 |access-date=2023-09-19 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

• Siege of Wukan, 2011
• Zhejiang solar panel plant protest, 2011

{{reflist}}

{{21st-century unrest in China}}

{{China topics}}

Category:Riots and civil disorder in China