Issue 8: April – June 2024

Highlights

• Documenting nearly 6,400 dissent events over two years. CDM logged 805 dissent events in the second quarter of 2024, a 18 percent increase over the same period in 2023. The majority of events are labor (44 percent) and homeowner (21 percent) protests, with the remainder involving diverse groups like rural residents, students, parents, investors, consumers, members of religious groups, activists, Tibetans, ethnic Mongolians, and members of the LGBT+ community. The top regions for protest events were Guangdong (13 percent), followed by Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Zhejiang. CDM has logged a total of 6,300 cases of dissent since data collection began in June 2022.
• Land grabs and corruption in rural China. CDM documented 228 protests led by rural residents over the past two years, most of which were linked to forced relocation and unfair land acquisition. These cases shed light on the corruption and discontent that arises from widespread land expropriation.
• Changing landscape for transportation leads to driver protests. CDM analyzed 91 protests led by taxi, ride-hailing, delivery, bus, and truck drivers in China. Many of these events were sparked by policies affecting transportation workers, such as regulation on ride-hailing apps and self-driving taxis.
• Over 2,800 protests linked to the struggling property sector. Dissent by homeowners and construction workers constitute 44 percent of all dissent cases in CDM’s database, reflecting the major impact of the real estate crisis on citizens’ livelihoods. Despite central government attempts to abate the sector’s collapse, CDM data indicates that protest frequency has not declined.
• Top protest cities. Analysis of CDM’s data collected over two years indicates that Shenzhen, Xi’an, and Sanya have more protests over economic grievances on a per capita basis than any other cities in China. Many other highly ranked cities are located in Guangdong Province.