Explained | Tiananmen Square to Zero-COVID: A long history of protests in China

Seething anger and resentment against China’s stringent implementation of the “Zero Covid” policy have led to an eruption of protests in China that the Chinese communist party has not seen since the protests that led to the Tiananmen Square massacre. The Chants of  “Step down, Xi Jinping!” were heard across the nation, and protestors were seen holding blank sheets of paper in open defiance of the authoritarian Communist Party. 

The catalyst of the protest was a massive fire that broke out on Thursday at an apartment block in the far western region of Xinjiang. The stringent “Zero-Covid” measures caused a delay for the firefighters to reach the victims of the incident which led to the death of at least 10 people. Similar protests also involved workers from the Foxconn plant in China demanding proper working conditions. In the nationwide protest, people are demanding “democracy and freedom” and urging the Chinese administration to step down.  

The recent anti-government protest is the biggest threat the Communist Party is facing since the 1989 protests which eventually led to the Tiananmen Square massacre. Although China has a long history of anti-government protests, however, most of them were settled down and whitewashed from the history books by the Chinese administration. Here are some of the modern-day protests communist China witnessed since the Tiananmen Square protest. 

The Tiananmen Square protest and the legacy it left behind

In the 1980s China was going through huge changes under the Deng Xiaoping administration. The communist rule was allowing the operation of some private companies and foreign investments. However, the opening of the Chinese economy came with rising corruption and the rise in hopes of greater political openness. 

In 1989 the student-led protests grew with the rising demands for greater political freedom and less censorship. Around one million protestors gathered at Tiananmen Square. The Chinese administration responded to the protest with a brutal crackdown of the protests killing numerous civilians. The Tiananmen Square massacre still remains a highly sensitive topic. 

Wuhan Protests (2011)

Wukan a fishing village in Guangdong province was little known until 2011 when villagers took to the road to protest against corruption by Chinese communist rule. The protest was so significant that it led to local authorities granting Wukan democratic elections. With this Wukane became a democratic village in Communist China. 

However, the protest saw a tragic end. In 2016, Wukan villagers rose up against the communist rule all over again when the former village elected leader Lin Zulian was sentenced to jail over corruption charges. The villagers believed that Zulian was coerced into admission and violent protest erupted in September. The Chinese authorities violently suppressed the protests and democratic Wukan lost its old charm. 

Beijing Sitong Bridge Protest, 2022 

The recent protests against the “Zero Covid” policy were not the only protest the Chinese Communist Party witnessed this year. In October, large banners unfurled on a flyover in China calling for boycotts and the removal of Xi Jinping. The Beijing Sitong Bridge protest was a political protest in China that came as the prelude to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The protestors hung banners and burned tires on Sitnong Bridge over the human rights violation and excessive censorship. 

Amidst the rapid removal of any traces of the protests by the Chinese administration, the hashtag ‘#ISawIt’ was used by internet users to indirectly refer to the protest on the internet. Amidst the chaos, a mystery protestor mounted Sitong Bridge in the Haidian district of Beijing and draped two banners in October, one called for the end of the “Zero Covid Policy” and the other called for the overthrow of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Protest was slowly suppressed by the Chinese administration. 

Potential of the protests getting whitewashed from the history books

While the whole world still remembers the Tiananmen Square massacre, the situation in Beijing is different. The discussion of the protest is extremely sensitive in the country. The government still remove the posts relating to the protest on the internet, and the history books have no mention of the massacre. Due to China’s constant whitewashing of the protest, the younger generation is rarely aware of what went down in 1989. 

However, despite China’s excessive censorship of modern-day protests against the communist party, the citizens find one way or another to express their discontent against the communist rule. When the MeToo movement took prominence in China, internet users used the hashtag '#RiceBunny' to support the protest, since the hashtag sounded the same as #MeToo it became the best way to get away from the Chinese censors. Hence, the Chinese administration might try to wipe out the modern-day protests against the government, but it will be harder to curb the voices of the protestors in this day and age.