Protests in China are common, but generally do not get reported on by state-controlled media or are quickly shut down.
This can be seen in the protest in March 2022 when protestors in Shanghai took to social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo over the local People’s Congress Elections.
Further protests took place across China over Xi Jinping’s ‘Zero-Covid’ policy. These widespread protests were quickly put down by the authorities. However, the Chinese stock market saw a fall in share prices as news of the protests reached overseas media. China did end its lockdown policy soon afterwards.
Many protesters are at risk of getting arrested by the police. This is particularly noticeable in Hong Kong, where there has been a rise in protests since the Umbrella Protests of 2014.
However, protests that demand specific changes and do not challenge the CCP have had some success. For example, tech workers launched an online campaign to protest the gruelling “996” work culture (working from 9am to 9pm, six days per week) which led to China’s top court to declare the practice illegal in 2021.
In 2019, university students protest on social media resulted in the firing of two professors accused of sexual assault, a pivotal moment in China’s #MeToo movement.
