Is China headed for new White Paper protests?

Two years ago, university students in China's largest cities took to the streets, holding blank A4 sheets as symbols of silent dissent againstthe government's harsh anti-pandemic restrictions.

The series of protests, known as the White Paper Movement or A4 Revolution, was a rare act of nationwide defiance against the Chinese leadership — the biggest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.

"The government now fears the White Paper Movement more than the Tiananmen Square incident, as it directly targets Xi Jinping's authoritarian regime," said Yicheng Huang, an exiled White Paper protester who now lives in Germany.

The protesters initially called for relaxing the COVID lockdowns, but the movement escalated into demands for the country's leader Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to step down.

Although the movement was later clamped down on by the government and failed to make systematic changes in Chinese society, Huang told DW that public discontent has continued to accumulate over the past two years.

Protesters 'traumatized' but also 'empowered'

Duringthe pandemic era, Chinese President Xi strongly endorsed the zero-tolerance policy for lockdown violations in hopes of controlling COVID-19. China stuck with its restrictions even after the majority of its population received anti-coronavirus vaccines, as many other countries around the world started relaxing the measures and decided to live with the now diminished health risks.

Frequent lockdowns, strict quarantine and mass testing continued to be enforced in the closing months of 2022 despite the growing public dissent.

In November 2022, a deadly fire broke out in an apartment building in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province, which is the home of the Muslim Uyghur minority. At least 10 people were reported dead. Many believed the true death toll was higher and blamed stringent lockdown measures for exacerbating the fire, with vigils for the victims eventually growing into widespread protests.

Shared trauma 'meaningful' in isolated society

Following the unrest, Chinese authorities scrapped the zero-COVID policy, while proclaiming "a major decisive victory" in pandemic prevention and control.

At the same time, an estimated 100 protesters have been arrested and charged for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." Some remain detained to this day, while others have been released on bail or exiled overseas.

"For those who participated in the White Paper Movement, the trauma has been significant," Huang said, noting that civil disobedience in China "comes at a high cost."

Huang said he was violently beaten by the police, pinned to the ground, and dragged on a bus with his face covered in blood.

Testimonies from other protesters also highlight harsh detention conditions, including solitary confinement, prolonged interrogations and inhumane treatment.

However, "whether it's the sadness and trauma or the empowerment and solidarity they feel, it's meaningful," said Yaqiu Wang, the research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at Freedom House.

Wang described China as an atomized society where individuals usually feel isolated. The level of collective discontent shown during the White Paper Movement surprised people, she told DW.

"The moment has gone, and people can't do much anymore. But the sense that we are together is still inside people," she said.

Beijing fearful of young people organizing on their own

Since the White Paper movement, Beijing has intensified its control and censorship of spontaneous gatherings by young people.

Earlier this month, tens of thousands of college students participated in a trend of night-time bike rides in Henan province, China, to eat soup dumplings — with the government responding with strict restrictions.

Citing public safety concerns, local governments shut down bike lanes and imposed curfews; some universities also implemented lockdown measures, preventing students from leaving campus.

"It really shows that the CCP is so profoundly afraid of its own people. [It] intuitively understands that when people get together, they can turn against the Party," Wang told DW.

The government also tightened its surveillance at this year's Halloween parade in Shanghai. People wearing costumes, especially if the costumes could be seen as politically charged, were taken away by the police.

"[Beijing] is constantly trying to stamp out these spontaneous gatherings," Huang said. However, he described Chinese society as "dry wood waiting to be ignited" since unresolved contradictions continue to grow.

"For Xi Jinping, this society is very frightening, very frightening indeed," he said.

Violent attacks prompt public anger

China has seen a string of deadly attacks in recent weeks, including mass stabbings and car rammings by individuals who acted out personal frustrations by randomly attacking strangers.

The violence came as a surprise to many in China. The country takes pride in its strict gun and knife control policies, as well as its overall public safety. Reportedly, the authorities were scrambling to restrict information online immediately after the attacks, which could be seen as a sign of Beijing's unease with potential unrest.

Despite their efforts, online chatrooms across China soon ran rampant with users discussing the phenomenon of "taking revenge on society."

China's 'high-pressure state' cannot last forever

"Since the pandemic, we've seen that the government's censorship system is actually quite fragile, with many instances of public opinion backfiring," said Kele, a member of Citizens Daily, an Instagram account dedicated to collecting and preserving voices of political dissent in China.

Kele, who spoke under a pseudonym for safety reasons, said the White Paper protests had caused the young people in China to realize that "even though I do not have many resources, I can make enough noise to make the government take me seriously."

Although individual motives of protesters can vary, activists believe they can be traced back to public frustration amid tightened control and economic slowdown. And for the former protester Huang, this same frustration with China growing less stable and more oppressive can be seen as a catalyst for the recent mass killings.

"It's impossible to maintain a high-pressure state indefinitely. A lone-wolf style of violent attacks in society is becoming more frequent, and this is because people see no justice and no hope."  Huang said.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic