File Photo: November 27, 2022, Beijing, China. Protesters march during demonstrations against China&9;s strict zero-COVID policies, holding blank sheets of paper as a symbol against censorship. Following a deadly apartment fire in Xinjiang Province, protesters took to the streets in multiple cities across China, sparking nationwide protests, with many attributing the deaths to COVID-19 restrictions. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
[People News] On the two-year anniversary of the White Paper Revolution, there is a flood of emotions that remains difficult to express. Young people, seasoned individuals, and even those within officialdom share this sentiment, collectively rendered silent. People sigh in despair as they witness the worsening of the socio-political climate day by day, powerless to speak out or take action. It feels as though the cold wave sweeping across China these days mirrors the chilling reality, leaving people to passively watch the deterioration of circumstances.
This is the prevailing sentiment two years after the White Paper Revolution erupted and COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. It reflects the “post-revolution” state of the people. China has plunged into a social stagnation unseen in decades. The majority are consumed with the daily struggle for survival, with little energy to recall the tragedies of the three-year lockdown period. Yet the vivid images of young people holding up blank sheets of paper on dark autumn nights two years ago remain deeply etched in the collective memory, forming an indelible generational imprint.
Theoretically, even if real-life conditions remain unchanged or continue to worsen, the mere preservation of this memory may be the most significant legacy of the White Paper Revolution. Based on this, we can begin to reassess the overlooked and distorted historical significance of the revolution.
No Republic, Only Chaos
Reflecting on the three years of "dynamic zero-COVID" measures during the pandemic, these years not only represented a nationwide "state of emergency" imposed from the top—never officially declared—but also became an opportunity for ambitious figures to quietly amend the constitution, abolishing the republic in what was effectively a coup. After a decade of centralization and control, over 2,000 delegates in the spring of 2022 approved a constitutional amendment abolishing term limits for the nation's leader. This was followed by the CCP's 20th National Congress that autumn, where a similar body of delegates approved amendments to the Party Constitution and resolutions.
The result was a series of political actions in 2022 that, in practice, law, and theory, abolished the republican system that had existed since 1949—or even since 1912—replacing it with an authoritarian regime. This modern autocratic system relies on a political party and a bureaucratic apparatus for governance rather than a traditional monarchy. The reinstatement of a de facto "monarch-for-life" system places the leader's personal will above popular sovereignty. It represents the greatest betrayal of the CCP's founding principles and sacrifices over the past century, as well as a profound backlash against the modernization aspirations of the Chinese people since the 1911 Revolution. As a result, China has entered a "great upheaval unseen in a century," marking the beginning of a chaotic era.
Against this backdrop, the White Paper Revolution erupted barely a month after the 20th National Congress. The catalyst was the November 24 Urumqi fire, during which people mourned the victims. In a matter of days, protests spread from the streets of Shanghai and Beijing to nationwide demonstrations, with students at over 70 universities silently holding up blank sheets of A4 paper. This unexpected revolution threw Beijing into unprecedented panic and paralysis. Decision-making within the ruling party and its vast bureaucratic machinery came to a standstill, resembling a blank "memory gap" after a drunken stupor. The three-year "dynamic zero-COVID" policy collapsed within a week.
This absurd "systemic blackout" has persisted, diverging sharply from both external perceptions and the self-image of authoritarian regimes. The reality exposed by the White Paper Revolution reveals a system rife with rigidity, incompetence, corruption, and decay. This dysfunction has contributed to the sluggish recovery policies and the rapid decline in the economy and livelihoods after the pandemic, creating chaotic scenarios reminiscent of apocalyptic disorder.
For instance, consider the case of former Defense Minister Dong Jun being investigated. Following the 20th National Congress, two successive defense ministers have faced corruption probes, along with their predecessor Wei Fenghe, making three consecutive ministers embroiled in scandal. Similarly, three former Ministers of Justice have been removed, echoing the chaotic turnover of military ministers during the late Ming dynasty under the Chongzhen Emperor. These examples are merely the tip of the iceberg, illustrating how corruption has accelerated within China's bureaucratic politics under authoritarianism and how fierce oligarchic struggles are unfolding behind the scenes.
What is more concerning is the scale and intensity of this systemic corruption, far surpassing the "lubricant corruption" seen during the early reform era over a decade ago. This level of extreme corruption, where political leaders at the highest levels act without any checks on their power, is characteristic of private-oligarchic states like Russia or Belarus or failed democracies like the Philippines or Mexico. It represents absolute corruption driven by the top leadership. In China’s case, this corruption has been fostered by repeated "no reform" declarations since 2012, creating a system reminiscent of the absolutist monarchy under Louis XIV, where "the leader is the state."
This context explains the root cause of the nationwide chaos following the abolition of the republic in 2022. Under the protection of the "no reform" stance, the bureaucratic system has collectively adopted a posture of absolute inaction, self-interest, and abuse of power in response to the White Paper Revolution and post-pandemic recovery. The entire defense system, state-owned enterprises, and bureaucratic apparatus are riddled with corruption, showing utter exploitation, stinginess, and indifference toward the people, their livelihoods, and public opinion.
This explains the government's indecisiveness in domestic policies. The CCP's Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee was delayed until mid-2024, and the "concessions" made in its resolutions were quickly relegated to the status of "historical documents." Despite the sudden economic downturn since the fall, the leadership has refused to implement substantive, people-centered policy adjustments. Instead, there has been only internal bureaucratic maneuvering, with no plans to convene the Fourth Plenary Session on schedule. China's political life has fallen into disarray, reduced to a private state controlled by a leader and oligarchs, descending into the chaotic power struggles of imperial court politics between the inner circle and bureaucratic factions.
No Society, Only Mutual Harm
In this state of political chaos, two years after the White Paper Revolution, Chinese society, from top to bottom, seems to have returned to a pre-revolutionary state. Once again, the people find themselves in a dead-end scenario, akin to the "dynamic zero-COVID" policies, where survival is barely possible but no way forward exists. This was the very despair that drove young people to the streets two years ago in their fight for freedom. However, two years later, this dead-end is even broader, more tangible, and more deeply felt. People cannot find a way to live, nor see hope, and this has precipitated a new wave of societal unrest.
This unrest stems from the death of the republic and is exacerbated by societal collapse, leading to mutual harm and, metaphorically, modern cannibalism. This is evidenced by the wave of revenge killings across China, which has intensified since incidents such as the September attack on an American teacher in Jilin and the stabbing of Japanese children in Shenzhen. These acts of social revenge are occurring at an alarming rate nationwide, signaling a significant crisis and instability within Chinese society.
However, the Beijing authorities' initial response has been to screen and arrest individuals, coupled with futile appeals in state-run media editorials, rather than addressing and resolving the underlying issues. This approach mirrors their response to the July 5, 2009, riots, where instead of addressing poverty in southern Xinjiang, they treated the entire ethnic group as supporters of terrorism, carried out collective repression, dismantled their society, and attributed most acts of social violence to political or separatist terrorism.
In post-pandemic China, we see a similar but inverse wave of violence: as civil society has been gradually dismantled and destroyed, people have been thrust into an atomized, dog-eat-dog state of survival. The middle class, which had been a pillar of civil society, has experienced a widespread decline during the pandemic. Unlike Foxconn workers a decade ago or lower-class individuals facing post-pandemic pressures who resorted to individual suicides, these desperate middle-class individuals are now opting for acts of collective revenge. Their actions, often involving mass killings that symbolize a collective suicide intertwined with societal destruction, expose their desperate plight.
This is a form of mutual harm born out of societal collapse, and its brutality rivals the horrors of cannibalism during the Great Famine. Yet, from the perspective of the White Paper Revolution, this social deterioration is less the result of economic collapse and more the consequence of societal disintegration. Even in isolated cases, it is clear that the downward-spiraling middle class not only receives no societal support but is swiftly abandoned after failure. This psychological despair is what drives some to run over innocent people in a final, tragic act of vengeance.
In this context, the brave young people and middle-aged citizens of the White Paper Revolution stand out. When they mourned victims far away or cried out for freedom, they demonstrated the existence of civil society, defending not only the fabric of Chinese society but also the republic itself. Considering their nonviolent protests against the violent repression of a dictatorship, one cannot doubt their courage, which rivals that of Cai E, who initiated the Constitutional Protection Movement 110 years ago.
In this sense, these individuals—and the memories of their actions—represent the last glimmers of hope in China’s current apocalyptic chaos. Two years ago, on this very day, they showed the world that even amidst such turmoil, hope could still be found.
(From Voice of America)
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