After more than two years of strict lockdowns, Chinese citizens have taken to the streets in one of China’s largest shows of civil disobedience in recent history. Now, some of those harsh restrictions are being lifted — at the same time, police continue blocking off protest sites and are patrolling for demonstrators.
Zhao Ma, professor and head of the Chinese section at Washington University, told KMOX about the significance of these protests to people in China and worldwide. Plus, he talked about his personal relation — he has family living in China.
“They are doing okay, that's how much I can say. My parents live in Beijing. And also, of course, my other relatives, they all live in China,” Ma said. “So it has kind of become our daily routine to check on their wellbeing every day, and to maintain contact through WeChat messages. But that's kind of frustrating.”
The protests began when an apartment caught fire and killed ten people, and some questioned if COVID restrictions prevented first-responders from rescuing people in time.
“Really what angers people is the way government handled this entire incident, especially in the press conference held by the provincial government,” Ma said. “Because basically, in this press conference, the government officials kind of put the blame on the victims, you know, they say, ‘Hey, these are the people who have no knowledge or skills to protect themselves.’”
A protest at this level, Ma said, is “extraordinary.” He said he thinks the primary motivators for protestors are grief, anger and fear. Plus, protesters are being arrested, having their cell phones taken by authorities, and more.
“We really don't know what sort of measures the government will take against these protesters. But so far, I think that the new thing for these run of protests is — and I mean, China is a big country. So normally, you will have thousands of protests in different places, all kinds of issues,” he said. “But this time, where in the past those protests tend to be on local issues…what we are seeing is people are protesting on some kind of a national policy.”
Hear more about the protests in China, and how they affect us here in St. Louis:
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