2011 Chinese protests
Encyclopedia
The 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests refer to weekly street actions in over a dozen cities in mainland China
starting on 20 February 2011, inspired by and named after the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia; the actions that took and take place at protest sites, and response by the Chinese government to the calls and action.
Initially, organisers recommended shouting slogans on 20 February. After participants and journalists having been beaten and arrested, organisers urged a change to "strolling" on 27 February in order to minimize police reactions while sustaining the cycle of actions. On this 2nd protest day, the number of protesters could not be determined. Protest and/or official actions were noted in only two out of the thirteen suggested cities, it was even less clear who were protestors and who were just regular strollers. Notwithstanding, police mounted a "huge" security operation on both 20 and 27 February. Media sources reported that on 27 February, at least four foreign journalists, including Stephen Engle of Bloomberg News and a BBC cameraman, had been beaten by plain-clothes security officers in Beijing. Police arrested protesters. In Shanghai, protestors successfully prevented police from making an arrest and were able to air their slogans with foreign journalists. Since late February, about 35 human rights activists and lawyers were arrested and five people were charged with inciting subversion of state power
.
website, run by overseas dissidents, and then on Twitter. The initial call for protest began on 19 February 2011 when 12 to 13 cities were suggested. The Boxun.com appeal called for protests to take place each weekend, arguing that "sustained action will show the Chinese government that its people expect accountability and transparency that doesn't exist under the current one-party system."
On 2 March, organisers declared a three-stage strategy. The first stage would take "a few weeks, a couple of months, a year or even longer"; the second stage would include "holding a jasmine flower and [using] mobile phones or music players to play [the folk song] Such a Beautiful Jasmine
". Organisers declared the third stage as "when the street-walking revolution is irreversible"; it would involve people criticising the government openly and without fear.
The media reported a vindication by protest organisers on 2 March saying, "Now China's government clearly shows its horror and fear of the people, as if facing a deadly enemy. A modest amount of people, just by walking, have demonstrated the people's power, and the government's response has revealed its weaknesses to the world." For 6 March, protesters were urged to "either gather near fast-food restaurants, take a stroll, or eat at the restaurants, ... [and order] set meal No3 at the McDonald's and the KFC".
An elderly female demonstrator in Shanghai stated: "Our country has no proper legal system, it's a one-party dictatorship, a tyranny, that suppresses the citizens. There is also land eviction. Many people are beaten to death in many land eviction cases."
The United States Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, Jr.
, was seen at the protest rendezvous point. Huntsman exchanged a few words with people in Chinese and then his entourage departed the site immediately. US Embassy spokeman Richard Buangan said that Huntsman and family were on their way to a museum and "they immediately left" once they realized what was going on. The Atlantic Wire reports: "that hasn't stopped nationalist Chinese bloggers from using Huntsman's appearance to drum-up conspiracies of a U.S. plot to destabilize China".
and dissident Liu Xiaobo
. Hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothed security staff and volunteers wearing red armbands were pre-emptively stationed at Wangfujing. Their presence disrupted normal shopping and attracted onlookers. Police began to clear the rendezvous area half an hour after the designated assembly time.
On 27 February, activists in 2 cities – Beijing and Shanghai – out of the 23 originally suggested responded. Seven people were reportedly arrested in Shanghai and police kept reporters, participants and strollers moving. Since the organisers proposed for protesters to just walk by silently to protest, it was impossible to tell who were protesting and who were just regular strollers on the streets. The Wall Street Journal stated, "while several Chinese people were seen having altercations with the police, there were no signs of actual protests."
gave an eyewitness account of an incident in Beijing in which Bloomberg
reporter Stephen Engle was "grabbed by several security officers, pushed to the ground, dragged along by his leg, punched in the head and beaten with a broom handle by a man dressed as street sweeper." The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China denounced the attack on Engle, and called for journalists' physical safety to be guaranteed by the authorities.
BBC
reporter Damian Grammaticas accused state security of roughing up his crew. He said that they tried to grab equipment from the cameraman and took him 50 yards away into a police van. Grammaticas alleged the police officers then set on him, pulled him by the hair and generally treated him roughly. He also alleged that the police officers then threw the crew into a van and threatened them during their transport to a government office.
CNN
reporter Eunice Yoon
reported that a policeman in Wangfujing knocked a camera out of her colleague Jo Ling Kent's hand and six police officers physically forced them into a bank, where they were detained for half an hour. Yoon remarked after the incident that "there had been no protests for us to cover", and that the incident "show[ed] how incredibly terrified and paranoid the Chinese authorities are". ATV
journalists and a TVB
cameraman were also reportedly briefly detained. ATV News reported that their footage at the rally site was deleted by officers. Chinese security forces also visited a few Western journalists in their apartments with nighttime visits asking to behave "cooperatively." Otherwise, they warned, the authorities would refuse to extend their work permits at the end of the year.
. Protestors included elderly people and youths documenting the protest with cameras and phones. Some of the core participants appeared to be "deliberately obstructing police efforts to keep the crowd flowing". Other protestors spoke to foreign journalists and joked to each other about police difficulties in stopping "demonstrations that were not actually happening".
in Sheung Wan, for the second time in a week. Participants included Legco member Leung Kwok Hung aka Long Hair and activists from the League of Social Democrats.
, and some 180,000 police and 560,000 security volunteers were already on patrol. There was a heavy police presence on Sunday in parts of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to which protests had been called. In Beijing, journalists saw no obvious sign of protesters. Large contingent of plain-clothed security personnel were reported in and around Wangfujing, Xidan and Zhongguancun. In Shanghai, most news outlets reported an absence of obvious protestors. However, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
(DPA) reported around a hundred protestors "surrounded by hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothes police."
There were yet more reports of foreign journalists being detained in Shanghai, leading to sharp objections from the Foreign Ministries of Germany and Australia.
Members of the League of Social Democrats
tried to place a branch of jasmine
in front of the Central Government Offices
in Hong Kong.
, "there was no massive police presence [at Wangfujing] as seen on previous Sundays."
human rights activist Chen Wei
, Tiananmen Square protest
student leader, Ding Mao
, well-known blogger Ran Yunfei
, and Teng Biao
of Open Constitutional Initiative. Chengdu-based activist and legal advisor Li Shuangde , who was sentenced to four months in prison in on charges of credit card fraud, is considered the first to have been sentenced on "jasmine" related charges.
Since the 19 February protest announcement, more than a hundred people have been summoned or questioned by police, and up to 200 people are subject to reinforced supervision or house arrest.
The highest-profile arrest is Ai Weiwei
, who was taken into police custody on 3 April in Beijing. Amid Boxun's online campaign, Ai had posted on his Twitter account on 24 February: "I didn’t care about jasmine at first, but people who are scared by jasmine sent out information about how harmful jasmine is often, which makes me realize that jasmine is what scares them the most. What a jasmine!" Ai's studio was raided by police, who took away computer equipment; a number of his entourage were also arrested by police. Analysts and other activists said Ai had been widely thought to be untouchable, but Nicholas Bequelin from Human Rights Watch suggested that his arrest, calculated to send the message that no-one would be immune, must have had the approval of someone in the top leadership. While state media originally reported on 6 April that Ai was arrested at the airport because "his departure procedures were incomplete," the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on 7 April that Ai was under investigation for 'economic crimes'.
and China Unicom
blocked the word "jasmine". Searches for "jasmine" were also blocked on China's largest microblog, Sina Weibo
, and status updates with the word on Chinese social networking site Renren were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content."
Since the word "Jasmine" was forbidden in the Chinese blogosphere, millions of netizens used the term "two conferences" instead, a widely used expression in the official news originally pointing to the two conferences "Fourth Session of the Eleventh National People's Congress" and "Fourth Session of the Eleventh CPPCC" happening in March in Beijing.
On 25 February, several foreign journalists were contacted by police and told that they could not conduct interviews without applying for permission. Regulations issued by the Chinese government forbid entry by foreign reporters into the Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing or the People’s Park in central Shanghai without a special permit. Enforcement of the new rules on Sunday 28 February resulted in beating of one camera operator and detention of several reporters for several hours before their release and confiscation of their materials.
Following calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" on Twitter, Chinese users of Twitter began to notice a number of new accounts, sometimes using the names or images of Chinese democracy activists. Tweets by the new accounts took a hostile position to calls for demonstrations.
In late March, Google
stated that intermittent problems with Gmail
in the PRC constitute "a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail". PC Mag attributed the blockage to the calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in the PRC.
, Chengdu
and Guangzhou
, stepped up security measures, with state security, police and armed forces ordered to stand by in case of emergency. CPC General Secretary and President Hu Jintao
delivered a speech in the Central Party School on 19 February instructing senior management to better manage social problems and internet incitement.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
said that there were tight controls on university students to prevent students from participating in protests. He alleged that teachers had received "a certain note ordering them to do their duty, otherwise they will be in trouble, or their school will be in trouble."
reported that Beijing police had banned the sale of jasmine
flowers at various flower markets, causing wholesale prices to collapse. Some vendors stated that Beijing police wanted written assurances that no jasmine flowers shall be sold in their stalls. The Guangxi Jasmine Development and Investment Company, organisers of the China International Jasmine Cultural Festival, said that officials cancelled the 2011 summer festival.
Premier Wen Jiabao
participated in a web chat
on 27 February that France 24
described as an "apparent bid to defuse" the call for weekly gatherings. In the webchat, he promised to deal with inflation, corruption, lack of housing, property speculation. The Financial Times (FT) claimed that the web chat was "announced abruptly late on [26 February] and appeared to be timed to coincide with the planned protests." It added that with the web chat, "state media blanketed the nation over the internet, television and radio on Sunday morning with two hours of remarks by Wen Jiabao". China News
said that the webchat had been planned in advance; similar webchats had taken place on 20 June 2008 and 27 February 2010.
dismissed any notion of political reform, saying that Western-style democracy would have dire consequences, and that any loosening of the Party's hold on power could undermine stability and risk domestic strife, and he also:"advocated the five noes: no multi-party election; no diversified guiding principles, no separation of powers, no federal system and no privatization".
Wu, who belongs to the conservative faction of the leadership, said: "We have made a solemn declaration that we will not employ a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation; diversify our guiding thought; separate executive, legislative and judicial powers; use a bicameral or federal system; or carry out privatisation." Analysts said the warnings were aimed at consolidating the party's power, in reaction to calls for liberal democracy in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. On the other hand, the more liberal Wen Jiabao said that economic and political reform, safeguarding social equity and justice were major factors behind China's success. He also rejected comparisons with Egypt and Tunisia, and reiterated his support for greater democracy and public supervision, saying economic development alone could not solve the problems of the mainland's development.
and those voiced by the Chinese people, the state's tighter grip on the country's media, Internet and other communication forums pose difficulties for anyone trying to organise mass demonstrations.
The Wall Street Journal said that the online protest appeal could compound apparent concern among Chinese Communist Party leaders that the recent uprisings against authoritarian governments in the Middle East and North Africa could inspire similar unrest in China.
CNN
journalist Eunice Yoon and her news crew headed out to Wangfujing to cover the "response to anonymous calls on the Internet to stage protests and begin a Tunisia-style "Jasmine Revolution" in China", was physically handled by police in Beijing on 27 February at arrival near the protest site. She wrote: "What makes China's treatment of the international press so bewildering is that there had been no protests for us to cover here..... My own experience and those of my colleagues show how incredibly terrified and paranoid the Chinese authorities are of any anti-government movement forming in China."
Following the arrests of approximately 15 foreign journalists on 6 March, The Australian
described the attempts at organising a "Jasmine Revolution" in China as "the biggest showdown between Chinese authorities and foreign media in more than two decades."
The Atlantic reported that Hillary Clinton thinks the Chinese government is "scared" of the Arab rising. "They're worried, and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool's errand
. They cannot do it. But they're going to hold it off as long as possible."
about Leadership dispute
It is said that this event was taken advantage of some oversea acitivists who want to say they are the leader of this event and get benefit from this leadership position, like funding from American anti-Chinese groups.Some people claimed that this event is not initiated by those oversea people who made a website about Jasmine revolution of China. They criticized them in trying to grasp the effort to their own.
to discuss economic ties between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (ROC), Chen Yun-lin, Chairman of Mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits
, was mobbed by about 200 protesters at Kaohsiung Harbor. Some protesters threw chrysanthemum
flowers at him (as Jasmine flowers were not in season), while others tried to deliver plastic jasmine flowers and juice to him. Earlier, at Kaohsiung Station
, Chen had already encountered two groups of demonstrators, one supporting Taiwanese independence and another Chinese unification. Police claimed that the groups both numbered about 50 people. About 300 Falun Gong
followers also staged a protest. On 8 March, the Democratic Progressive Party
released a strongly worded statement condemning the use of force against participants of the “Jasmine Revolution” in China. The statement urged the government to incorporate values of democracy and human rights into agreements with Beijing when promoting cross-strait ties to encourage “China’s democratic transformation.”
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
starting on 20 February 2011, inspired by and named after the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia; the actions that took and take place at protest sites, and response by the Chinese government to the calls and action.
Initially, organisers recommended shouting slogans on 20 February. After participants and journalists having been beaten and arrested, organisers urged a change to "strolling" on 27 February in order to minimize police reactions while sustaining the cycle of actions. On this 2nd protest day, the number of protesters could not be determined. Protest and/or official actions were noted in only two out of the thirteen suggested cities, it was even less clear who were protestors and who were just regular strollers. Notwithstanding, police mounted a "huge" security operation on both 20 and 27 February. Media sources reported that on 27 February, at least four foreign journalists, including Stephen Engle of Bloomberg News and a BBC cameraman, had been beaten by plain-clothes security officers in Beijing. Police arrested protesters. In Shanghai, protestors successfully prevented police from making an arrest and were able to air their slogans with foreign journalists. Since late February, about 35 human rights activists and lawyers were arrested and five people were charged with inciting subversion of state power
Inciting subversion of state power
Inciting subversion of state power is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China. It is article 105, paragraph 2 of the 1997 revision of the People's Republic of China's Penal Code....
.
Initial call
The anonymous call for a 'Jasmine revolution' in China's major cities was made online, first on the Boxun.comBoxun.com
Boxun.com is an overseas Chinese community website created by Meicun "Watson" Meng, who studied in the United States after working for two multinational companies in China. Boxun covers international political news and human rights abuses in the People's Republic of China, among other topics...
website, run by overseas dissidents, and then on Twitter. The initial call for protest began on 19 February 2011 when 12 to 13 cities were suggested. The Boxun.com appeal called for protests to take place each weekend, arguing that "sustained action will show the Chinese government that its people expect accountability and transparency that doesn't exist under the current one-party system."
| City | Province | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing | – | McDonald's McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948... at Wangfujing Wangfujing Wángfǔjǐng , located in Dongcheng District, Beijing, is one of the Chinese capital's most famous shopping streets. Much of the road is off-limits to cars and other motor vehicles, and it is not rare to see the entire street full of people. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty there have been... |
| Changchun Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located in the northeast of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Songliao Plain. It is administered as a sub-provincial city with a population of 7,677,089 at the 2010 census under its jurisdiction, including counties and... |
Jilin | Culture Square, West Minzhu Street, front door of Corogo supermarket |
| Changsha | Hunan | Wuyi square, Xinda building front door |
| Chengdu Chengdu Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status... |
Sichuan | Tianfu square, beneath Chairman Mao statue |
| Guangzhou Guangzhou Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port... |
Guangdong | People's park Starbucks |
| Hangzhou Hangzhou Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people... |
Zhejiang | Wulin square, front door of Hangzhou department store |
| Harbin Harbin Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River... |
Heilongjiang | Front door of Harbin cinema |
| Nanjing Nanjing ' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions... |
Jiangsu | Drum tower square, Xiushui Street, department store front door |
| Shanghai | – | People's square, front door of Peace Cinema |
| Shenyang Shenyang Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu... |
Liaoning | Nanjing-Bei (North Nanjing) Street, front door of KFC |
| Tianjin Tianjin ' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government... |
– | Beneath the Tianjin drum tower |
| Wuhan Wuhan Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies at the east of the Jianghan Plain, and the intersection of the middle reaches of the Yangtze and Han rivers... |
Hubei | Liberation road, World trade square Mcdonalds front door |
| Xi'an Xi'an Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty... |
Shaanxi | Beida Street (北大), front door of Carrefour Carrefour Carrefour S.A. is an international hypermarket chain headquartered in Levallois-Perret, France. It is one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world... |
Protest strategy and tactics
A number of slogans were suggested to the protests:| Translation in English | Chinese |
|---|---|
| We want food, we want work, we want housing! | 我們要食物、我們要工作、我們要住房! |
| We want fairness, we want justice! | 我們要公平、我們要正義! |
| Guarantee property rights, protect judicial independence! | 保障私有產權、維護司法獨立! |
| Initiate change in political reform, end one party dictatorship! (or "Terminate one-party rule") | 啟動政治改革、結束一黨專政! (or 停止一黨專政) |
| Lift restrictions, free the press! | 開放報禁、新聞自由! |
| Long live Ten thousand years The use of the phrase "ten thousand years" in various East Asian languages originated in ancient China as an expression used to wish long life to the Emperor, and is typically translated as "long live" in English... freedom, long live democracy! |
自由萬歲、民主萬歲! |
On 2 March, organisers declared a three-stage strategy. The first stage would take "a few weeks, a couple of months, a year or even longer"; the second stage would include "holding a jasmine flower and [using] mobile phones or music players to play [the folk song] Such a Beautiful Jasmine
Mo Li Hua
Mo Li Hua , is a popular Chinese folk song. The song dates to 18th century. In time, many regional variations were created, and the song gained popularity both in China and abroad. It has been used during events such as 2004 Summer Olympics, 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Shanghai Expo opening...
". Organisers declared the third stage as "when the street-walking revolution is irreversible"; it would involve people criticising the government openly and without fear.
The media reported a vindication by protest organisers on 2 March saying, "Now China's government clearly shows its horror and fear of the people, as if facing a deadly enemy. A modest amount of people, just by walking, have demonstrated the people's power, and the government's response has revealed its weaknesses to the world." For 6 March, protesters were urged to "either gather near fast-food restaurants, take a stroll, or eat at the restaurants, ... [and order] set meal No3 at the McDonald's and the KFC".
20 February
The Associated Press, reported only "a handful of people" were known to have actively involved in organizing the staging rallies in 13 cities. The Globe and Mail reported that the 20 February appeal was answered by 200 people at the Beijing rendezvous. There was a similar protest in Shanghai with about 100 participants.An elderly female demonstrator in Shanghai stated: "Our country has no proper legal system, it's a one-party dictatorship, a tyranny, that suppresses the citizens. There is also land eviction. Many people are beaten to death in many land eviction cases."
The United States Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Jon Meade Huntsman, Jr. is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 16th Governor of Utah. He also served in the administrations of four United States presidents and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.Huntsman worked as a White House staff assistant for...
, was seen at the protest rendezvous point. Huntsman exchanged a few words with people in Chinese and then his entourage departed the site immediately. US Embassy spokeman Richard Buangan said that Huntsman and family were on their way to a museum and "they immediately left" once they realized what was going on. The Atlantic Wire reports: "that hasn't stopped nationalist Chinese bloggers from using Huntsman's appearance to drum-up conspiracies of a U.S. plot to destabilize China".
27 February
After the police response to the protests on 20 February, the organizers urged the participants not to shout slogans any more, but simply to stroll silently at the respective protest sites. The call to use "strolling" tactics for the 27 February gatherings was made on the Boxun.com website on 22 February. Prior to the planned 27 February gathering in front of a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing, authorities installed metal corrugated fencing outside the restaurant and outside the home of Nobel laureate2010 Nobel Peace Prize
The 2010 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Chinese human rights activist "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China"...
and dissident Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China...
. Hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothed security staff and volunteers wearing red armbands were pre-emptively stationed at Wangfujing. Their presence disrupted normal shopping and attracted onlookers. Police began to clear the rendezvous area half an hour after the designated assembly time.
On 27 February, activists in 2 cities – Beijing and Shanghai – out of the 23 originally suggested responded. Seven people were reportedly arrested in Shanghai and police kept reporters, participants and strollers moving. Since the organisers proposed for protesters to just walk by silently to protest, it was impossible to tell who were protesting and who were just regular strollers on the streets. The Wall Street Journal stated, "while several Chinese people were seen having altercations with the police, there were no signs of actual protests."
Beijing
Several foreign journalists were physically beaten by the police, with many others physically pushed by the police, their cameras confiscated and footage deleted. The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
gave an eyewitness account of an incident in Beijing in which Bloomberg
Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Television is a 24-hour global network broadcasting business and financial news. It is distributed globally, reaching over 200 million homes worldwide. It is owned and operated by Bloomberg L.P...
reporter Stephen Engle was "grabbed by several security officers, pushed to the ground, dragged along by his leg, punched in the head and beaten with a broom handle by a man dressed as street sweeper." The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China denounced the attack on Engle, and called for journalists' physical safety to be guaranteed by the authorities.
BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reporter Damian Grammaticas accused state security of roughing up his crew. He said that they tried to grab equipment from the cameraman and took him 50 yards away into a police van. Grammaticas alleged the police officers then set on him, pulled him by the hair and generally treated him roughly. He also alleged that the police officers then threw the crew into a van and threatened them during their transport to a government office.
CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
reporter Eunice Yoon
Eunice Yoon
Eunice Yoon is CNN’s Beijing-based Correspondent, responsible for the network’s news coverage of China alongside Senior International Correspondent Stan Grant and Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz....
reported that a policeman in Wangfujing knocked a camera out of her colleague Jo Ling Kent's hand and six police officers physically forced them into a bank, where they were detained for half an hour. Yoon remarked after the incident that "there had been no protests for us to cover", and that the incident "show[ed] how incredibly terrified and paranoid the Chinese authorities are". ATV
Asia Television Limited
Asia Television Limited is one of the two free-to-air television broadcasters in Hong Kong, the other being rival Television Broadcasts Limited . It launched in 1957 under the name Rediffusion Television as the first television station in Hong Kong...
journalists and a TVB
Television Broadcasts Limited
Television Broadcasts Limited, commonly known as TVB, is the second over-the-air commercial television station in Hong Kong. It commenced broadcasting on 19 November 1967...
cameraman were also reportedly briefly detained. ATV News reported that their footage at the rally site was deleted by officers. Chinese security forces also visited a few Western journalists in their apartments with nighttime visits asking to behave "cooperatively." Otherwise, they warned, the authorities would refuse to extend their work permits at the end of the year.
Shanghai
In Shanghai on 27 February, protestors prevented police from arresting an elderly man, when they "reacted instantly and angrily, emitting a guttural roar and surging forward almost as one", according to the South China Morning PostSouth China Morning Post
The South China Morning Post , together with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is an English-language Hong Kong newspaper, published by the SCMP Group with a circulation of 104,000....
. Protestors included elderly people and youths documenting the protest with cameras and phones. Some of the core participants appeared to be "deliberately obstructing police efforts to keep the crowd flowing". Other protestors spoke to foreign journalists and joked to each other about police difficulties in stopping "demonstrations that were not actually happening".
Hong Kong
27 people participated in a "Jasmine Revolution" demonstration in Hong Kong on 27 February, including activists from the Young Civics, they held placards that read "Long live people's power, long live democracy." 40 more participated in another protest outside the offices of the Central Government Liaison OfficeLiaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is an organ of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.-Description:...
in Sheung Wan, for the second time in a week. Participants included Legco member Leung Kwok Hung aka Long Hair and activists from the League of Social Democrats.
6 March
Beijing was under tight security due to a session of the National People's CongressNational People's Congress
The National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...
, and some 180,000 police and 560,000 security volunteers were already on patrol. There was a heavy police presence on Sunday in parts of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to which protests had been called. In Beijing, journalists saw no obvious sign of protesters. Large contingent of plain-clothed security personnel were reported in and around Wangfujing, Xidan and Zhongguancun. In Shanghai, most news outlets reported an absence of obvious protestors. However, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH is a news agency founded in 1949 in Germany. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is available in German, English, Spanish, and Arabic.The DPA...
(DPA) reported around a hundred protestors "surrounded by hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothes police."
There were yet more reports of foreign journalists being detained in Shanghai, leading to sharp objections from the Foreign Ministries of Germany and Australia.
Members of the League of Social Democrats
League of Social Democrats
The League of Social Democrats or LSD is a radical pro-democratic political party in Hong Kong. Its declared purpose is to "take a clear-cut stand to defend the interests of the grassroots"...
tried to place a branch of jasmine
Jasminum polyanthum
Jasminum polyanthum, also known as Pink Jasmine , is an evergreen twining climber from China. It produces an abundance of reddish-pink flower buds in late winter and early spring, followed by fragrant five-petalled star-like white flowers which are about 2 cm in diameter...
in front of the Central Government Offices
Central Government Offices
The Central Government Offices houses the most major offices of the Hong Kong Government. Located in Central in Hong Kong, it occupies the lower level of Government Hill.- History :...
in Hong Kong.
13 March
According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, there were several hundred police in the Wangfujing and Xidan districts in Beijing, including uniformed police with dogs, paramilitary police, plain-clothes police, special forces units and security guards. More than 40 police were present at the Peace Cinema in Shanghai. According to Agence France-PresseAgence France-Presse
Agence France-Presse is a French news agency, the oldest one in the world, and one of the three largest with Associated Press and Reuters. It is also the largest French news agency. Currently, its CEO is Emmanuel Hoog and its news director Philippe Massonnet...
, "there was no massive police presence [at Wangfujing] as seen on previous Sundays."
20 March
In Beijing, hundreds of police were present at some of the eight proposed "strolling" protest locations in commercial areas and some police cars were present at entries to some of the 20 university sites proposed for protests.Arrests
About 35 leading Chinese activists have been arrested or detained by authorities including a leading SichuanSichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
human rights activist Chen Wei
Chen Wei (dissident)
Chen Wei , born 21 February 1969 in Sichuan Suining , is a dissident and a leading human rights activist in central Sichuan province in China. Currently he is detained by Chinese police and is held at the Suining City Detention Center.- Biography :...
, Tiananmen Square protest
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989
The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese , were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People's Republic of China beginning on 15 April 1989...
student leader, Ding Mao
Ding Mao
Ding Mao , born 1968 in Sichuan Mianyang , is a Chinese dissident. As a student, he was one of the leaders of the student democracy movement, known through the Tiananmen Square 1989 protest. He became general manager of an investment company, and one of the founders of the unrecognized Social...
, well-known blogger Ran Yunfei
Ran Yunfei
Ran Yunfei is a famous Chinese writer and a high-profile democracy activist and blogger. He was arrested in late March 2011, shortly after the start of the 2011 Chinese pro-democracy protests, on charges of inciting subversion of state power....
, and Teng Biao
Teng Biao
Teng Biao is a human rights activist and lawyer in China. Teng is a lecturer at the University of Politics and Law in Beijing. He has been a vocal supporter of human rights activists such as Chen Guangcheng and Hu Jia...
of Open Constitutional Initiative. Chengdu-based activist and legal advisor Li Shuangde , who was sentenced to four months in prison in on charges of credit card fraud, is considered the first to have been sentenced on "jasmine" related charges.
Since the 19 February protest announcement, more than a hundred people have been summoned or questioned by police, and up to 200 people are subject to reinforced supervision or house arrest.
The highest-profile arrest is Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008...
, who was taken into police custody on 3 April in Beijing. Amid Boxun's online campaign, Ai had posted on his Twitter account on 24 February: "I didn’t care about jasmine at first, but people who are scared by jasmine sent out information about how harmful jasmine is often, which makes me realize that jasmine is what scares them the most. What a jasmine!" Ai's studio was raided by police, who took away computer equipment; a number of his entourage were also arrested by police. Analysts and other activists said Ai had been widely thought to be untouchable, but Nicholas Bequelin from Human Rights Watch suggested that his arrest, calculated to send the message that no-one would be immune, must have had the approval of someone in the top leadership. While state media originally reported on 6 April that Ai was arrested at the airport because "his departure procedures were incomplete," the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on 7 April that Ai was under investigation for 'economic crimes'.
Censorship
China MobileChina Mobile
China Mobile Limited is a Chinese state-owned telecommunication company that provides mobile voice and multimedia services through its nationwide mobile telecommunications network, the largest of its kind in the world...
and China Unicom
China Unicom
China Unicom or China United Netcom Ltd , is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications operator in the People's Republic of China.-History:...
blocked the word "jasmine". Searches for "jasmine" were also blocked on China's largest microblog, Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo is a Chinese microblogging website. Akin to a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook, it is one of the most popular sites in China, in use by well over 30% of Internet users, with a similar market penetration that Twitter has established in the USA...
, and status updates with the word on Chinese social networking site Renren were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content."
Since the word "Jasmine" was forbidden in the Chinese blogosphere, millions of netizens used the term "two conferences" instead, a widely used expression in the official news originally pointing to the two conferences "Fourth Session of the Eleventh National People's Congress" and "Fourth Session of the Eleventh CPPCC" happening in March in Beijing.
On 25 February, several foreign journalists were contacted by police and told that they could not conduct interviews without applying for permission. Regulations issued by the Chinese government forbid entry by foreign reporters into the Wangfujing shopping district in Beijing or the People’s Park in central Shanghai without a special permit. Enforcement of the new rules on Sunday 28 February resulted in beating of one camera operator and detention of several reporters for several hours before their release and confiscation of their materials.
Following calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" on Twitter, Chinese users of Twitter began to notice a number of new accounts, sometimes using the names or images of Chinese democracy activists. Tweets by the new accounts took a hostile position to calls for demonstrations.
In late March, Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
stated that intermittent problems with Gmail
Gmail
Gmail is a free, advertising-supported email service provided by Google. Users may access Gmail as secure webmail, as well via POP3 or IMAP protocols. Gmail was launched as an invitation-only beta release on April 1, 2004 and it became available to the general public on February 7, 2007, though...
in the PRC constitute "a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail". PC Mag attributed the blockage to the calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in the PRC.
Other security measures
More than 20 Chinese cities, including TianjinTianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
, Chengdu
Chengdu
Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...
and Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, stepped up security measures, with state security, police and armed forces ordered to stand by in case of emergency. CPC General Secretary and President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
delivered a speech in the Central Party School on 19 February instructing senior management to better manage social problems and internet incitement.
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism. Ai collaborated with Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron as the artistic consultant on the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008...
said that there were tight controls on university students to prevent students from participating in protests. He alleged that teachers had received "a certain note ordering them to do their duty, otherwise they will be in trouble, or their school will be in trouble."
Jasmine flower ban
On 10 May 2011, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reported that Beijing police had banned the sale of jasmine
Jasmine
Jasminum , commonly known as jasmines, is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family . It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of the Old World...
flowers at various flower markets, causing wholesale prices to collapse. Some vendors stated that Beijing police wanted written assurances that no jasmine flowers shall be sold in their stalls. The Guangxi Jasmine Development and Investment Company, organisers of the China International Jasmine Cultural Festival, said that officials cancelled the 2011 summer festival.
Domestic
A high level Chinese government official Zhao Qizheng said, on 23 February, that the probability of China having a "Jasmine Revolution" is "absurd and unrealistic". He also said that "although there are many problems in China right now, the government is doing the best it can to try and combat these problems instead of ignoring them. The government reveals its own problems to the public and tries to deal with it. This type of government is strong and will move forward."Premier Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
participated in a web chat
Web chat
A web chat is a system that allows users to communicate in real time using easily accessible web interfaces. It is a type of internet online chat distinguished by its simplicity and accessibility to users who do not wish to take the time to install and learn to use specialized chat software. This...
on 27 February that France 24
France 24
France 24 is an international news and current affairs television channel. The service is aimed at the overseas market, similar to BBC World News, DW-TV, NHK World and RT, and broadcast through satellite and cable operators throughout the world. During 2010 the channel started broadcasting through...
described as an "apparent bid to defuse" the call for weekly gatherings. In the webchat, he promised to deal with inflation, corruption, lack of housing, property speculation. The Financial Times (FT) claimed that the web chat was "announced abruptly late on [26 February] and appeared to be timed to coincide with the planned protests." It added that with the web chat, "state media blanketed the nation over the internet, television and radio on Sunday morning with two hours of remarks by Wen Jiabao". China News
China News Service
The China News Service is the second largest state-owned news agency in the People's Republic of China, after the Xinhua News Agency. It serves mainly overseas Chinese and residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan....
said that the webchat had been planned in advance; similar webchats had taken place on 20 June 2008 and 27 February 2010.
Wu Bangguo's five "No"
Addressing the meeting of the National People's Congress, its chairman Wu BangguoWu Bangguo
Wu Bangguo is a high-ranking politician in the People's Republic of China. He is currently Chairman and Party secretary of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a position that makes him China's chief legislator...
dismissed any notion of political reform, saying that Western-style democracy would have dire consequences, and that any loosening of the Party's hold on power could undermine stability and risk domestic strife, and he also:"advocated the five noes: no multi-party election; no diversified guiding principles, no separation of powers, no federal system and no privatization".
Wu, who belongs to the conservative faction of the leadership, said: "We have made a solemn declaration that we will not employ a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation; diversify our guiding thought; separate executive, legislative and judicial powers; use a bicameral or federal system; or carry out privatisation." Analysts said the warnings were aimed at consolidating the party's power, in reaction to calls for liberal democracy in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. On the other hand, the more liberal Wen Jiabao said that economic and political reform, safeguarding social equity and justice were major factors behind China's success. He also rejected comparisons with Egypt and Tunisia, and reiterated his support for greater democracy and public supervision, saying economic development alone could not solve the problems of the mainland's development.
International
Time suggested that though there are many similarities between the complaints voiced by the people in the Middle East and North Africa2010–2011 Middle East and North Africa protests
The Arab Spring , otherwise known as the Arab Awakening, is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010...
and those voiced by the Chinese people, the state's tighter grip on the country's media, Internet and other communication forums pose difficulties for anyone trying to organise mass demonstrations.
The Wall Street Journal said that the online protest appeal could compound apparent concern among Chinese Communist Party leaders that the recent uprisings against authoritarian governments in the Middle East and North Africa could inspire similar unrest in China.
CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
journalist Eunice Yoon and her news crew headed out to Wangfujing to cover the "response to anonymous calls on the Internet to stage protests and begin a Tunisia-style "Jasmine Revolution" in China", was physically handled by police in Beijing on 27 February at arrival near the protest site. She wrote: "What makes China's treatment of the international press so bewildering is that there had been no protests for us to cover here..... My own experience and those of my colleagues show how incredibly terrified and paranoid the Chinese authorities are of any anti-government movement forming in China."
Following the arrests of approximately 15 foreign journalists on 6 March, The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
described the attempts at organising a "Jasmine Revolution" in China as "the biggest showdown between Chinese authorities and foreign media in more than two decades."
The Atlantic reported that Hillary Clinton thinks the Chinese government is "scared" of the Arab rising. "They're worried, and they are trying to stop history, which is a fool's errand
Snipe hunt
A snipe hunt, a form of wild-goose chase that is also known as a fool's errand, is a type of practical joke that involves experienced people making fun of credulous newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task...
. They cannot do it. But they're going to hold it off as long as possible."
about Leadership dispute
It is said that this event was taken advantage of some oversea acitivists who want to say they are the leader of this event and get benefit from this leadership position, like funding from American anti-Chinese groups.Some people claimed that this event is not initiated by those oversea people who made a website about Jasmine revolution of China. They criticized them in trying to grasp the effort to their own.
Taiwan protests
On 24 February, whilst visiting KaohsiungKaohsiung
Kaohsiung is a city located in southwestern Taiwan, facing the Taiwan Strait on the west. Kaohsiung, officially named Kaohsiung City, is divided into thirty-eight districts. The city is one of five special municipalities of the Republic of China...
to discuss economic ties between the People's Republic of China and Taiwan (ROC), Chen Yun-lin, Chairman of Mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits
The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits is an organization set up by the People's Republic of China for handling technical or business matters with the Republic of China ....
, was mobbed by about 200 protesters at Kaohsiung Harbor. Some protesters threw chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemums, often called mums or chrysanths, are of the genus constituting approximately 30 species of perennial flowering plants in the family Asteraceae which is native to Asia and northeastern Europe.-Etymology:...
flowers at him (as Jasmine flowers were not in season), while others tried to deliver plastic jasmine flowers and juice to him. Earlier, at Kaohsiung Station
Kaohsiung Station
Kaohsiung Station is a railway station located in Sanmin District of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China, which serves the Taiwan Railway Administration Western Line, Pingtung Line, Kaohsiung Harbor Line and the Kaohsiung MRT Red Line...
, Chen had already encountered two groups of demonstrators, one supporting Taiwanese independence and another Chinese unification. Police claimed that the groups both numbered about 50 people. About 300 Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
followers also staged a protest. On 8 March, the Democratic Progressive Party
Democratic Progressive Party
The Democratic Progressive Party is a political party in Taiwan, and the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition. Founded in 1986, DPP is the first meaningful opposition party in Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with strong advocacy of human rights and a distinct Taiwanese identity,...
released a strongly worded statement condemning the use of force against participants of the “Jasmine Revolution” in China. The statement urged the government to incorporate values of democracy and human rights into agreements with Beijing when promoting cross-strait ties to encourage “China’s democratic transformation.”
See also
- Illegal flower tributeIllegal flower tribute"Illegal flower tribute" is an Internet meme that emerged after Google's announcement of a possible exit from Mainland China in January 2010. On , Google posted an article on its official Blogspot blog, entitled "A New Approach to China", in which it disclosed its decision to end compliance with...
- Human rights in the People's Republic of ChinaHuman rights in the People's Republic of ChinaHuman rights in the People's Republic of China are a matter of dispute between the Chinese government, other countries, international NGOs, and dissidents inside the country. Organizations such as the U.S. State Department, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch have accused the Chinese...
Video coverage
- "The Chinese authorities have cracked down on a small pro-democracy rally apparently modelled on the protests sweeping the Arab world", ITN News London 20 February 2011, retrieved 3 March 2011
- "Chinese Jasmine Revolution", Voice of America, Beijing 21 February 2011 (in Chinese), retrieved 27 February 2011
External links and further reading
- "Arab Revolts as Viewed From Beijing" news analysis by Didi Kirsten Tatlow in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
23 February 2011 - "In China, Strolling for Reform" opinion by Archer Wang and Scott Savitt in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
4 March 2011 - "Jasmine stirrings in China: No awakening, but crush it anyway: The government goes to great lengths to make sure all is outwardly calm", 3 Mar 2011