In the early hours of the opening day of the Two Sessions this March, two massive fireballs streaked across the night sky in Beijing, falling from the sky and exploding mid-descent. (Image from the internet)
[People News] According to Radio Free Asia on April 22, a middle school teacher in Guangzhou, Li Ming (pseudonym), was detained by police for 15 days after criticising the government’s economic policies in class. A student reported him, and he was charged with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Netizens slammed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for “escalating control over speech,” with some lamenting, “Even classrooms are no longer safe.” According to Caixin, multiple teachers across China have been punished for their speech in 2024, highlighting the intensifying ideological control. The CCP has not responded to Li Ming’s case, while the Guangzhou Education Bureau announced it would “strengthen ideological education for teachers.” Amid the 145% tariff war and worsening economic hardship, public discontent is mounting, and speech suppression is triggering an even stronger backlash.
Li Ming’s detention has broken the eerie silence of China’s long “winter of speech.” That criticising economic policy in a classroom could lead to charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” shows the regime’s fear of public voices has reached a peak. The 145% tariff war has battered the economy, while the real estate crisis and crushing local debt have caused widespread public frustration. Li’s case is far from isolated—numerous teachers across China have been punished in 2024, reflecting a total upgrade in the CCP’s ideological crackdown, as the education system increasingly becomes a propaganda tool.
The CCP’s suppression of speech stems from a crisis of governance. Economic decline and the tariff war have left the government overwhelmed, and any criticism is now treated as a threat to stability. The Guangzhou Education Bureau’s response—promising “ideological education”—reveals its attempt to strangle educational independence. Netizens mocked: “If teachers can’t even speak the truth, how are they supposed to teach students?” Compared with the ideological openness of the 1980s, Li Ming’s detention shows the CCP’s tolerance for speech has dropped to freezing point—winter has fully set in.
The danger of Li Ming’s case lies in eroding public trust. Teachers, as carriers of knowledge, are being punished for telling the truth, robbing education of its soul. Public anger has spread from X (formerly Twitter) to WeChat, with some predicting: “If this suppression continues, public outrage will eventually erupt.” The tariff war is deepening economic hardship, and censorship is igniting grassroots fury. Social instability risks are soaring. Li Ming’s imprisonment is a grim footnote to the CCP’s governance crisis—the boiling point of public resentment is now dangerously close.
(First published by People News)
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