Contextualizing Chinese Protest

Beginning in late November 2022, protests erupted all over China in response to restrictive Zero-Covid policies enacted by Xi Jinping and the CCP that inhibited businesses, halted economic growth, and made it difficult for citizens to work or get the food and supplies they needed while under lockdown. Many of the international news headlines covering these protests employ terms such as "unprecedented" and "uncharacteristic" to describe Chinese protest, implying that dissent in China is rare. However, the current demonstrations are part of a long tradition of Chinese protest that is often headed by students and other young adults. Here are a few links to sources on what is happening in China right now, and the broader history of protest in China: The BBC article "What is China's zero Covid policy and what are its rules?" in response to the current demonstrations, provides a snapshot of what life in China is like under the Zero-Covid policy, detailing the strict lockdown measures. The CNN article "The comic ingenuity of Chinese protesters" is an opinion piece by historian of modern China, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, that highlights the humorous creativity of current and ongoing Chinese protests as they have utilized subtle demonstrations and dissent to comically critique a government that has historically cracked down severely on organized public protests. The Washington Post article "Large, peaceful protests shows Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement is still strong" covered the 2019 protests in Hong Kong at the height of their game, when millions of Hong Kongers took to the streets to protest the Chinese government's tightening control over the city that has a unique, non-Chinese identity. In the 2020s, the government has increasingly cracked down on any dissent in Hong Kong and there is now very little protest activity left, however, Hong Kong's resistance is incredibly relevant to the current demonstrations all across China. Lun Zhang's non-fiction, young adult book Tiananmen 1989: Our Shattered Hopes follows the story of the infamous June Fourth incident—otherwise known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre—from the firsthand account of a young sociology teacher who witnessed it all. During the Tiananmen Square Massacre, non-violent, student-led demonstrations calling for communication between protesters and the government, a stop to governmental corruption, and overall increased democracy, were the victim of a violent government-authorized crackdown by the People's Liberation Army that resulted in thousands of deaths and serious injuries, of which the vast majority were students. Tiananmen 1989 is a great book for introducing the history of student protest in China to high schoolers and an important read for anyone.

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