Massive Protest in China: Empty Yet Loaded White Paper as a Symbol of the Protesters’ Message

By Ditria Nabila

Massive protests emerged in China; this phenomenon started from the fire incident in apartments that led to the death of 10 people and others injured. Local authorities deny the widely held belief that COVID limitations prevented locals from escaping the fire. This is due to the «Zero-COVID» policy that China has been implementing, which is a super strict lockdown regulation to achieve zero cases of COVID-19. Despite the name, it has instead led to an insurrection or even unprecedented heights of infection. There is clearly one issue that occupies the majority of Chinese citizens’ thoughts, and many of them are becoming weary of it, which has led to a strong backlash against the government’s Zero-COVID regulations (McDonell, 2022). As a result, many people took to the streets to demand a stop to COVID lockdowns, and, in some exceptional circumstances, they even demanded the resignation of Xi Jinping (Tan and McGarvey, 2022).

It is believed that local demonstrations are highly improbable to fade anytime in the foreseeable future since citizens are «not being brought out to the streets in a controlled fashion; they move from social media to the street» (Tan and McGarvey, 2022). The protestors are holding a white piece of paper. This gesture has been witnessed in earlier years; the 2020 Hong Kong demonstrations, in which locals waved blank pieces of paper in defiance of the city’s harsh new national security regulations, are thought to have inspired the current practice. Some argue that the gesture of waving a blank sheet of paper is a challenge to the government as if they were asking whether they are going to be arrested for carrying a sign that says nothing, the movement is also intended to send a statement against the repression of dissent (Murphy, 2022).

This big demonstration is putting pressure on the Chinese authorities. Additionally, this is the largest demonstration since 1989. Protests and rallies are unusual in China, but the growing demonstrations that have occurred since last weekend show that Chinese individuals are becoming more daring in speaking out against their leadership (ABC Australia, 2022). Even though the protesters were carrying plain white paper, we know the paper is filled with their message to the regime.

References:

ABC Australia (2022). Dunia Hari Ini: Unjuk Rasa di China Meluas, Terbesar Sejak 1989. [online] detiknews. Available at: https://news.detik.com/abc-australia/d-6430557/dunia-hari-ini-unjuk-rasa-di-china-meluas-terbesar-sejak-1989 [Accessed 30 Nov. 2022].

McDonell, S. (2022). China Covid: Shocking protests are huge challenge for China’s leaders. BBC News. [online] 27 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63772365 [Accessed 27 Nov. 2022].

Murphy, M. (2022). China’s protests: Blank paper becomes the symbol of rare demonstrations. BBC News. [online] 28 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63778871.

Tan, Y. and McGarvey, E. (2022). China Covid: Police clamp down after days of protests. BBC News. [online] 28 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63785351.