China & Covid: A Paper Dragon

As a saying often attributed to Lenin has it, “there are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” This was one of those weeks. A sleeping giant that has lain dormant in China since early June of 1989 reawakened: mass protests.

The People’s Republic is undoubtedly a police state, but minor acts of civil disobedience aren’t particularly out of the ordinary. What makes these antigovernment demonstrations so remarkable is that they are widespread, occurring in over 20 cities across the country, with students, workers, farmers, and professionals alike taking to the streets to voice their discontent with the regime’s draconian “zero Covid” policies — though the government seems to be reasserting control for now. These defiant dissenters put their lives in jeopardy. In many places, protesters held up blank sheets of paper. One protester said they “represent everything we want to say but cannot.”

About the Author

Bobby Miller

Bobby Miller is an ISI Fellow at National Review and a graduate student at Georgetown University.

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As a saying often attributed to Lenin has it, “there are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” This was one of those weeks. A sleeping giant that has lain dormant in China since early June of 1989 reawakened: mass protests.

The People’s Republic is undoubtedly a police state, but minor acts of civil disobedience aren’t particularly out of the ordinary. What makes these antigovernment demonstrations so remarkable is that they are widespread, occurring in over 20 cities across the country, with students, workers, farmers, and professionals alike taking to the streets to voice their discontent with the regime’s draconian “zero Covid” policies — though the government seems to be reasserting control for now. These defiant dissenters put their lives in jeopardy. In many places, protesters held up blank sheets of paper. One protester said they “represent everything we want to say but cannot.”