China has a system of petitioning, which was established in 1945. This allows Chinese citizens to lodge complaints to government officials predominantly on issues such as household registration, illegal construction and education issues. The majority of the petitions received are dealt within localised state levels of government.
Rising land prices have resulted in local authorities seizing private land. Farmers have frequently used the petition system to get their land back.
Although petitions are legal, police often round up those who submit them. According to the New York Times, in June 2018, hundreds of army veterans staged a protest in the eastern city of Zhenjang after an ex-soldier petitioning government official was beaten by security guards.
Boycotts
Whilst boycotts and staged protests are rare in China, when four banks in central Henan province and one in eastern Anhui province, froze 39 billion Yuan and stopped citizens from accessing their own money, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in a peaceful demonstration, to gain access to their funds. The CCP responded to the public pressure, getting the banks to unfreeze funds. (Source: Reuters)
