Last week, intensive mass protests erupted across China. According to our statistics, in just four days, at least 21 protests occurred across the country, involving issues such as wages, land, forced demolitions, school districts, healthcare, and social security. These grassroots anger and despair, disseminated through social media and online videos, reveal the deep-seated contradictions that are increasingly tense in Chinese society.
According to records from the civil protest statistics platform "Yesterday" and the social observation account "Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher," Radio Free Asia reported that this wave of protests began on June 16 in more than ten provinces and cities, including Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Jiangsu, Guizhou, Qinghai, Gansu, Hubei, Beijing and Shanghai.
Reporters have summarized the protests, finding them to be primarily related to wage arrears, wage and benefit cuts, housing rights protections, protests against forced demolitions, and the suppression of petitioners. A Guangdong lawyer surnamed Liu, who declined to be named, told this station on June 23rd, "At least twenty visible mass incidents occurred in four days, which is truly rare. This series of issues reflects the current deteriorating economic environment, the continued exploitation of migrant workers' income and benefits, and the sharp increase in labor survival pressures."
Wage strikes as the main reason for government breach of trust
In Fuqing, Fujian, hundreds of female workers at Xiangxing Luggage Company, a Hong Kong-owned company with over three decades of history, went on strike from June 17th to 19th due to ten months of unpaid wages. Online videos showed workers chanting slogans and protesting outside the Fuqing Municipal Government, demanding official intervention. Ultimately, under pressure from the protests, the company pledged to pay one month's wages.
Similar cases have occurred at China Merchants Shipyard in Qingdao, Shandong; the Xixian New District Logistics Park in Shaanxi; the Qiyang Xinli Hotel in Yongzhou, Hunan; Shandong China Railway; the Silk Road Cloud Warehouse in Xingping, Shaanxi; rural Chaoyang, Guangdong; and the Blue Ocean Hotel in Dongying, Shandong. Many of these projects have experienced wage arrears exceeding three months, affecting dozens to hundreds of employees.
Mr. Wang, a former NGO member in Shenzhen (a pseudonym for safety reasons), told this station in an interview: "Since June, workers' rights protection actions have continued to erupt in Dongguan, Zhongshan, Foshan and other places. For example, a labor agency in Chang'an Town withheld nearly half of the wages during factory recruitment, prompting complaints from workers. Jinhui Plastic Factory has long been in wage arrears, and workers' rights protection efforts have been met with indifference from the government."
In addition, on June 17, medical staff from the Second Hospital of Weinan City in Shaanxi Province also posted on social media platforms: "The hospital has not paid wages for three consecutive months, and there are no five insurances and one fund." This situation of "non-staff medical staff being abandoned by the finances" has triggered a lot of reposts and discussions.
Forced demolitions and housing rights protests heat up as residents struggle to defeat the government machine
In addition to labor disputes, many protests are related to land and housing issues, especially the increasingly serious problems of forced demolition and unfinished buildings.
In mid-June, villagers in Yuliuzhuang Village and Zhongwei Village in Pingxiang County, Xingtai City, Hebei Province, accused the government of forcibly demolishing their homes without written notice. Some of the houses were newly built or nearing completion, using high-quality materials and representing an investment exceeding one million yuan. One family attempted to climb onto an excavator to stop the construction, but ultimately gave up, fearing it would affect their own projects.
On the evening of June 19th, residents of the R&F Tianxi Mansion in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, collectively blocked the road in protest over the long-standing difficulties in obtaining property certificates, the delayed delivery of supporting schools, and serious fire safety issues. The scene was heavily cordoned off by police and police lines. One resident stated, "We've been fighting for our rights for years, but the developer has repeatedly broken their promises, and the government has remained passive."
On June 16, forced demolition in Xiamao Village, Baiyun District, Guangzhou, sparked clashes between police and residents, resulting in injuries to some villagers. Separately, parents in Hengda Community in Xianyang, Shaanxi, protested against school district demarcation by blocking a road, ultimately resulting in several being assaulted and taken away.
Rights protection is suppressed and institutional relief continues to narrow.
Some protesters have attempted to defend their rights through formal channels, but have faced brutal interference. On June 16, several activists who had purchased "Migrant Comprehensive Insurance" were assaulted by security guards outside the Shanghai Employment Promotion Center. Originally intended for migrant workers, this insurance has seen its benefits significantly reduced during the transition to social security, sparking discontent.
Construction workers at Shanghai Greenland Hong Kong collectively banged on barrels in a rare attempt to demand their wages; a barbecue vendor's cart in Yuhang District, Hangzhou was forcibly seized by hundreds of police officers; and special police were seen driving a car in Beijing attempting to intercept petitioners. Although they failed, the attempt once again attracted attention.
On June 13th, a high school sophomore in Nantong, Jiangsu, committed suicide by jumping from a building after being verbally abused by a teacher. His family protested at the school gate for three consecutive days, demanding justice. On the 15th, police forcibly cleared the area, resulting in multiple arrests. That evening, the deceased's grandparents and fellow villagers went to the town government to demand his release, but no officials responded.
Public opinion is difficult to control, and the underlying reality relies on the Internet to spread
These incidents were often filmed by protesters themselves or witnesses and uploaded to social media platforms like WeChat, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin, where they were then forwarded by netizens to overseas websites. Although many of the videos were quickly deleted, accounts like "Yesterday" and "Teacher Li is Not Your Teacher" continued to repost them, keeping the information circulating.
On June 19th, a video of a Guiyang urban management official falling to the ground and being dragged away by a street vendor sparked heated discussion, with one netizen sarcastically commenting, "The efforts of the online trolls to whitewash the urban management official were in vain."
Dong Shu, a former reporter for a Xi'an radio station, told this station: "Most rights defenders have exhausted all formal channels and only resort to public protest after repeated appeals have failed. This kind of situation can easily lead to extreme incidents, such as the Yang Jia case."
She said the 21 large-scale and medium-sized protests that erupted over four days could no longer be explained by sporadic rights protection. "Faced with an economic downturn, imbalanced rule of law, and restricted speech, discontent is accumulating among the grassroots of Chinese society, and the traditional high-pressure model is facing unprecedented challenges."
