China stems a wave of protests, but its ripples remain
Future of dissent could turn more subtle, tactical
In central China, students chanted demands for more transparency about COVID rules, while avoiding the bold slogans that riled the Communist Party a week earlier. In Shanghai, residents successfully negotiated with local authorities to stop a lockdown of their neighborhood. And despite pressure from officials, a team of volunteer lawyers across China, committed to defending the right of citizens to voice their views, fielded anxious calls from protesters.
The recent wave of demonstrations that washed over China was prompted by frustration about pandemic restrictions, but the unrest also sometimes resulted in calls for China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to resign. Since then, police have been out in force to prevent a resurgence, and the mass protests have subsided. In the aftermath, a lowkey hum of resistance against the authorities has persisted, suggesting that the big rallies emboldened a small but significant number of people, including students, professionals, and blue-collar workers.
None of those local acts amount to a major challenge to Xi and the Communist Party. But they suggest that residents are less afraid of challenging officialdom, albeit in more measured, tactical ways. They often invoke China’s own laws and policy pledges, an approach that is less likely to draw the wrath of Communist Party leaders.
“There are people yelling out demands that are also my own, and I’m extremely grateful — grateful that they were able to speak out for me,” said Wang Shengsheng, a lawyer in Zhengzhou, central China. Wang helped compile a list of more than a dozen lawyers available to give free advice by phone to people in Shanghai and elsewhere worried about repercussions from taking part in vigils and protests.
“I’m sure that the number of people who expressed themselves this time, especially the youth, will later shape some policy changes,” she said. “I’m sure that the decision makers are not a monolithic lump of iron.”
In late November, dozens of protests broke out across China, ignited by fury over a deadly fire in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region in the west. The result was the boldest and most widespread demonstrations in China since the prodemocracy movement of 1989.
The Urumqi government had firmly denied widespread rumors that the residents killed in the fire — 10 by the official count — had been trapped in their apartments by COVID restrictions. But many Chinese were unconvinced, and grief turned into wider anger at pervasive lockdowns, virus testing and limits on travel. At demonstrations in Shanghai, Beijing and other cities, some protesters called for Xi and the Communist Party to give up power.
Since then, the Chinese government has taken a twopronged approach: detaining some protesters and warning would-be protesters, and letting local governments abandon some of the COVID rules that have frustrated the population. Xi has not spoken publicly about the protests, and it is unclear how far the displays of dissent played into his decision to adjust policy. But plenty of Chinese people seem to believe that the nationwide defiance played a big role.
They may now try to keep up pressure in smaller ways.
“I think what’s going to happen is people will coordinate, it will be low-level, it will look individualized and spontaneous, but there will be learning and discussion behind the scenes,” said Mary Gallagher, a professor at the University of Michigan who studies politics and social change in China.