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The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
How a teenage bullying incident spiralled into city-wide protests in China
It started as an unpleasant, although not uncommon, teenage bullying incident. On 2 August, a video appeared online, showing a group of teenage girls kicking, slapping and mocking another girl, later revealed to be aged 14, in an abandoned building in Jiangyou, a small city of 730,000 in south-west China. According to the local police, the attack, which took place on 22 July, resulted in minor injuries to the girl's scalp and knees. The video went viral in the local community, and soon morphed into a large-scale protest that overwhelmed the streets of Jiangyou, featuring violent clashes with the police and a concerted effort by the authorities to stop news of the event from spreading. So what was it about this incident that prompted hundreds, perhaps even 1,000, people to gather in the streets of Jiangyou on Monday evening? The answer may lie in a potent mixture of years of frustration at how bullying cases are handled in China, a lack of trust in local authorities, and the sometimes brutal police tactics used to suppress dissent and criticism. One video from the scene of the protest, verified by the Guardian, is illustrative. People can be heard chanting: 'Give us back democracy, reject bullying, serve the people.' They also sing the Chinese national anthem. Kevin Slaten, who runs China Dissent Monitor, a project tracking unrest in China, said the call for democracy was more likely referring to local handling of the incident rather than nationwide regime change. Other footage shows violent clashes between police and protesters. In one confrontation, a man stands between an elderly woman who is arguing with several police officers. 'What are you going to do? Are you going to drag the old person away?' he shouts. Several uniformed police and riot officers then grab him, holding him in a headlock, before dragging him away by his arms and legs. Another video shows a riot officer hitting someone who is pinned to the ground. The Jiangyou police department did not answer the phone when called by the Guardian. Early on Monday, the Jiangyou police issued a statement saying that three of the alleged bullies, aged 13, 14 and 15, had been apprehended, and that the two older girls would be sent to 'specialised schools for correctional education'. For people in Jiangyou, this was not enough to quell the anger. The parents of the victim went to a local government office, kowtowing at the feet of a local official, and begged for justice. Already, there was a crowd of onlookers. More people soon gathered in the conference hall of the Jiangyou city government building to vent their frustration at what was perceived as an unduly lenient punishment. By Monday evening, the anger had swelled. Hundreds of people took to the streets outside the government building. Police barricades were erected along the streets. One person who works in a business near the scene of the protest estimated that about 1,000 people turned up. One eye-witness told the Guardian that they saw at least eight people being arrested, and that the situation escalated when the police barricades were removed at about 11.30pm on Monday. The witness said the protests got heated because of a feeling that the punishment was too light and rumours that one of the bullies had been seen playing billiards rather than being in the correctional centre. 'This sparked anger among the crowd, who gathered to demand an explanation,' the witness said, adding that they had seen the police using batons. 'Now people will definitely hate violent law enforcement,' they said. School bullying is a heated topic in China, with many feeling that not enough is done to protect students. In 2023, thousands of people protested in Henan after the death of a 14-year-old. The boy's school said the cause of death was suicide, but his parents and local citizens suspected foul play In Jiangyou, the scale of the anger may also reflect a more generalised distrust of the authorities, said Slaten. There is a 'lack of trust at the local level in the way that these cases are handled,' Slaten said. 'People feel there's a lot of injustice. They feel indignation about the way that authorities, in this case the school and the police, were handling this case. 'And the authorities, as people start to push for handling it differently, and these protests get more intense, they start cracking down on the protesters, and that only makes them more indignant about the response of the government.' Slaten said the cycle of a protest about a specific grievance spiralling into a wider action against local authorities was 'something that is seen quite often' in China. By Tuesday morning, the authorities turned their attention towards controlling the narrative. The hashtag for 'Jiangyou' briefly topped Weibo's trending topics chart, according to China Digital Times, a website that tracks the Chinese internet. But comments and videos were soon censored, while posts promoting the official version of events flooded social media searches. On Tuesday, Chinese media reported that two adults surnamed Ding and Yang had been punished by the public security authorities for 'fabricating rumours to attract attention' about the incident. The crackdown on people talking about the incident was also enforced offline. One woman who works in a shop near the local government building told the Guardian that she was not allowed to talk about the incident because 'the police have already given us a verbal warning'. Additional research by Jason Tzu Kuan Lu and Lillian Yang
Time of India
01-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
China sees surge in worker protests over unpaid wages, factory closures and US tariffs
Worker protests over unpaid wages are increasing throughout China , reflecting a surge in dissatisfaction among millions impacted by factory closures due to hefty US tariffs on Chinese imports amidst an economic slump, as reported by Radio Free Asia (RFA). #Pahalgam Terrorist Attack Nuclear Power! How India and Pakistan's arsenals stack up Does America have a plan to capture Pakistan's nuclear weapons? Airspace blockade: India plots a flight path to skip Pakistan From Dao county in Hunan province to Suining city in Sichuan and Tongliao city in Inner Mongolia, numerous frustrated workers have taken to the streets to voice their grievances about overdue wages and to contest unfair layoffs at factories forced to shut down due to US tariffs. The workers claimed that the Sichuan-based firm, which produces flexible circuit boards, had not compensated them for their wages since the beginning of the year and had withheld social security benefits for nearly two years from June 2023, according to the RFA report. Continue to video 5 5 Next Stay Playback speed 1x Normal Back 0.25x 0.5x 1x Normal 1.5x 2x 5 5 / Skip Ads by by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Thon Hai An: Unsold Furniture Liquidation 2024 (Prices May Surprise You) Unsold Furniture | Search Ads Learn More Undo Analysts at the American investment bank Goldman Sachs have estimated that at least 16 million jobs across various sectors in China are at risk due to US President Donald Trump's implementation of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports. They predict that the increased tariffs from the Trump administration will "considerably impact the Chinese economy ," with slower economic growth expected to further strain the labour market, especially in export-oriented industries. Live Events Earlier this week, more than a dozen migrant workers in Tuanjie village, located in the northwestern Shaanxi province's Xi'an prefecture, voiced their concerns at a local project office, stating that they had not received their wages since February 2025. On April 24, hundreds of employees from Guangxin Sports Goods in Dao county organised a strike after the company's factory shut down without providing their owed compensation or social security benefits, as highlighted by the RFA report. Workers at the factory, which specializes in sports protective gear and related products, alleged that Guangxin Sports wrongfully terminated over 100 female employees over the age of 50 in September 2024, citing "retirement age" as the reason, without issuing their owed wages or assisting them with retirement processes. As stated by the US-based nonprofit Freedom House's China Dissent Monitor, the majority of protests documented in China during the third quarter of 2024 were driven by workers, who made up 41% of all in-person and online dissent events in the country. Approximately three-quarters of all protests recorded were related to economic issues, including workers seeking unpaid salaries, homeowners contending with stalled housing projects, and rural conflicts regarding land confiscation, Freedom House noted in the report by RFA.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
China's Economic Protests Spiked to Record Ahead of Tariff Shock
(Bloomberg) -- Protests driven by financial grievances in China saw a steep increase in the months before Donald Trump's return to power set off a trade war with Beijing that now threatens millions of jobs. Trump Signs Executive Orders on Federal Purchasing, Office Space How Did This Suburb Figure Out Mass Transit? DOGE Places Entire Staff of Federal Homelessness Agency on Leave Why the Best Bike Lanes Always Get Blamed LA County Floats Leaner Budget Burdened by Fire and Legal Costs Cases of economic protest rose by 41% in the fourth quarter from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Freedom House's China Dissent Monitor. The tally was the highest for a three-month period since the US advocacy group began documenting incidents in 2022. 'The prolonged economic malaise in China is leading to accumulated social conflict and dissent by citizens,' according to their analysis. The discontent bodes ill for an economy now facing an onslaught of US tariffs as a result of a tit-for-tat escalation that saw Trump hike levies on most Chinese goods to as high as 145% this month. The surge in protests came even as gross domestic product clocked the fastest growth in six quarters as Beijing rolled out a blitz of stimulus support late last year. The overall number of economic protests has steadily risen since the end of strict coronavirus restrictions in 2022, as China's youth unemployment rate soared and its housing crisis worsened. But in a sign unease is on the rise, protest activity in 2025 was higher than in the previous two years during what's usually a period of relative quiet after the Lunar New Year holiday, according to the report. Grievances tend to flare up ahead of the festival that falls around January and February — when workers expect to get unpaid wages — and then go into a cyclical dip. China Dissent Monitor shared data with Bloomberg that runs up until February. The platform, which documented protests and other forms of opposition in China, has suspended all work since USAID funding was withdrawn by the Trump administration earlier this year, making it harder to gauge public sentiment in the world's second-biggest economy. While social unrest doesn't pose an existential threat to the Chinese Communist Party, it's closely watched as a potential catalyst for policymakers to inject further stimulus. Smaller, contained incidents of public dissent are relatively common in the Asian nation, though its tightly controlled internet and mass surveillance of the population mean coordinated, nationwide protest is rare. Economic grievances are typically related to labor disputes among workers and property owners dealing with delays to projects after a yearslong real estate crisis. Such economic anxieties are expected to increase as US tariffs come into effect. The levies are pushing up concerns about jobs, income growth and investment losses among households, according to Morgan Stanley. A total of 44% of consumers fear they or their family members may lose their jobs, according to a survey conducted last week by the US bank immediately after the latest round of tariff hikes between Beijing and Washington. A measure of job openings compiled by Paris-based QuantCube Technology plunged nearly 30% from a year ago over the past two months, based on a data set that tracked online postings from over 2,000 companies. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates that up to 20 million people — or about 3% of the labor force — may be exposed to US-bound exports. Domestic consumers' confidence in China's economy has slumped to the lowest level since 2022, when the nation saw protests break out over increasing discontent with Beijing's zero-Covid policies. While a deeper malaise persists in pockets of the economy, booming exports helped keep GDP growth at 5.4% last quarter as businesses frontloaded shipments in anticipation of higher tariffs. GM's Mary Barra Has to Make a $35 Billion EV Bet Work in Trump's America Trade Tensions With China Clear Path for Salt-Powered Batteries How Mar-a-Lago Memberships Explain Trump's Tariff Obsession Trump Is Firing the Wrong People, on Purpose The Beauty Salon Recession Indicator ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
17-04-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
China's Economic Protests Spiked to Record Ahead of Tariff Shock
Protests driven by financial grievances in China saw a steep increase in the months before Donald Trump's return to power set off a trade war with Beijing that now threatens millions of jobs. Cases of economic protest rose by 41% in the fourth quarter from the same period last year, according to data compiled by Freedom House's China Dissent Monitor. The tally was the highest for a three-month period since the US advocacy group began documenting incidents in 2022.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
China rights monitors suspend work, lay off staff after U.S. aid freeze
By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) - Dozens of non-government groups monitoring dissent, human and labour rights in China have laid off staff after being forced to suspend work following a freeze on foreign aid by U.S. President Donald Trump, the monitors say. The groups are key to documenting a years-long crackdown by President Xi Jinping on minorities, rights defenders and lawyers. Last year, the EU expressed concern about the "very serious" human rights situation in China, particularly its regions of Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. "A lot of these NGOs were blindsided - they thought, because of U.S.-China competition, even if there are funding cuts, the China programmes will stay," said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch. "The suspension of U.S. funding for these causes will essentially deal a very heavy blow to global civil society." Among the affected groups is U.S.-based Freedom House, which said its project, China Dissent Monitor, staffed by researchers in Taipei who keep a public database of Chinese protests, was forced to suspend all research due to the funding freeze. Freedom House received $80 million in U.S. government grants in 2024, making up 88% of yearly revenue, its financial report shows. Its dissent database, tracking more than 7,000 protests since 2022, has become an important tool for journalists and China researchers as the government moved to rein in protests over the slowing economy and sharply rising youth unemployment. "The relevant reorganisation of U.S. institutions is their internal affair," the Chinese foreign ministry told Reuters in a statement. FUNDING WOES HRW's Wang estimates the freeze has hit dozens of similar China-focused groups because NGOs and grassroots groups work on projects funded by the same grant. Numerous Chinese laws effectively bar domestic NGOs from receiving foreign funding, and heavily limit the operations of foreign NGOs in China. Official data shows the United States pledged $10.7 million in foreign aid for China issues in 2024, mostly through USAID. Almost half of that figure, or $5.2 million, went to projects related to democracy, human rights and governance. Many China human rights and democracy groups became heavily dependent on U.S. funding over the years because private foundations and corporate donors avoided these causes, while other governments prefer to back purely humanitarian projects, said Wang. There is no public breakdown of how much USAID funding went to specific organisations or projects. Many China rights NGOs choose not to disclose exact funding sources to avoid Beijing's accusations of being overly influenced by foreign governments. Trump has halted most U.S. government-funded aid globally for 90 days, while moving to dismantle USAID, which he has described as being run "by a bunch of radical lunatics". The move is part of an effort by his administration to slash the federal government workforce and curb spending it considers wasteful. While Trump has said some funds may be released when the pause expires, it is unclear what could be restored, setting off a scramble among many China-focused groups for savings, further funding, and efforts to cut reliance on the United States. Beijing has long blamed Washington for seeking to foment "colour revolutions" in China by supporting civil society NGOs through USAID and the U.S. Congress-funded National Endowment for Democracy. This week, state broadcaster CCTV ran a segment titled, "USAID: Aid as a pretext for interference." Seven staffers of the New York-based China Labor Watch, founded by a veteran China labour campaigner, Li Qiang, to monitor abuses in Chinese factories, have been furloughed. Some on temporary work visas face deportation to China, Li said. Roughly 90% of the group's budget came from the U.S. government, beginning from 2021. Li estimates running costs this year at $1 million, up from $800,000 last year. "It's like telling us our projects aren't important and what we do has no meaning," said Li, who is now trying to raise funds elsewhere. "I put too much trust in the U.S. government and neglected finding new sources of funding. This was a strategic mistake. We could have diversified much earlier."
