Issue 6: October – December 2023

Highlights

• Over 950 dissent events recorded during the fourth quarter of 2023. During the fourth quarter of 2023, CDM logged 952 dissent events, a 30 and 50 percent increase over the previous two quarters, respectively, suggesting an increasing amount of protest in China. Labor (61 percent) and housing (17 percent) protests were most frequently recorded. The remaining 22 percent involve issues such as environmental concerns, school safety, fraud, land disputes and forced demolition, and religious freedom. About 18 percent (172) of events occurred in Guangdong Province, followed by Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, and Sichuan. CDM has altogether collected 4,638 dissent events since June 2022, of which 2,465 are fully coded and available on the CDM website.

• Protests linked to school safety issues. During this reporting period, CDM documented 30 cases of parents and others protesting the deaths of students while at public schools and universities, often spurred by distrust of government investigation of or response to these incidents.

• 200 cases of religious dissent. CDM has collected 200 total cases of religious adherents practicing or sharing their faith despite restrictions against these activities since June 2022. Occurring across 29 provinces or regions of the PRC, the majority (163) involved Falun Gong practitioners, 23 involved Christians, 11 involved Tibetan Buddhists, and three involved Muslims. Nearly all of the activities (94 percent) resulted in repression, underscoring the continued risks that people face for peacefully practicing religion in the country.

• Residents protest against waste disposal facilities. In 24 cases across 16 cities, CDM documented demonstrations by residents against the health and environmental impacts of waste facilities. Despite repression of 42 percent of these events, protestors achieved some form of concession in at least three cases.

• Per capita repression highest in Shanghai, Tibet, Beijing, and Shaanxi. CDM most frequently recorded repression in Henan and Guangdong, compared to other regions. But, when the size of a region’s population is incorporated into the calculation, Shanghai, Tibet, Beijing, and Shaanxi have proportionally more recorded protest events. Our analysis indicates that the higher rates of repression may be driven by higher rates of protest in those regions.