By Li Muzi, Vision Times
As the third anniversary of the “White Paper” movement approaches, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is once again under intense political scrutiny. “Stability-maintenance operations” have escalated nationwide, while multiple well-known or politically “sensitive” Beijing residents have reportedly been taken away by authorities for “questioning.” Even tourists were targeted by plainclothes police for actions as harmless as raising a small flag for a photo.
On Nov. 25, veteran journalist Gao Yu posted on X that the anniversary of the White Paper protests has now become “as sensitive as June 4th,” referring to the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
“From November 25, a batch of sensitive individuals in Beijing have been placed under watch,” she wrote, noting that the control period spans Nov. 26–28. “This is the aftershock of the White Paper Movement that erupted across the country three years ago. It is clear this is not merely a Beijing action, but a nationwide coordinated operation.”
RELATED: Chinese Authorities Turn Up Heat On Activists Ahead of Tiananmen Massacre Anniversary
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Gao criticized the authorities’ lingering fear: “Three years have passed, yet the authorities are still fearful, still guarding against, still intimidating people… This only proves that public opinion cannot be violated. The people are watching Peng Lifa, watching Li Kangmeng, watching everyone who lost their freedom because of their anger.”
Shanghai on a knife’s edge
Reports from social media show that Shanghai is equally tense. On Nov. 24, a man traveling by motorcycle stopped at the entrance of the historic Peace Hotel to take a commemorative photo. The moment he lifted a small flag, two plainclothes officers rushed him, seized the flag, and dragged him aside for questioning.
Police demanded to know whether he was Shanghai to petition, how long he was staying, and how he arrived at the city. After examining the writing on the flag — a verse reading “欲买桂花同载酒，终不似少年游” (meaning “We wish to buy osmanthus and carry wine, yet youthful wanderings can never return”) — one officer said “My cultural level is not very high.”
Though he was eventually let go, the man said the ordeal left him shaken: “I thought I had committed a crime… They rushed up out of nowhere and terrified me.”
The internet’s reaction was scathing as netizens did not hold back:
- “70 years in power and still acting like ignorant bandits.”
- “How fragile must this state be to fear its own people?”
- “This is the atmosphere of a regime in its final days.”
- “From June Fourth to A4, the CCP trembles at even a blank sheet of paper.”
Why the ‘White Paper Movement’ still terrifies Beijing
The White Paper Movement, also called the A4 Revolution, erupted in late November 2022 after a deadly fire in Urumqi trapped residents under COVID lockdown barriers. The tragedy ignited nationwide anger. On Nov. 26, students at Nanjing Communication University raised blank sheets of paper.
The symbolism spread rapidly as Shanghai crowds gathered on Urumqi Road chanting: “Down with the Communist Party! Down with Xi Jinping!” Beijingers were also seen rallying at Liangmaqiao, while demonstrations broke out in at least 21 provinces and on over 100 university campuses.
RELATED: Xi Jinping Loyalist Jing Junhai Resurfaces at Alma Mater in a Sign of Crisis
The movement forced the CCP into a rare retreat. On Dec. 7, 2022, Beijing abruptly lifted its “zero-COVID” policy with the so-called “New 10 Measures.” But after the world stopped watching, authorities launched sweeping reprisals, arresting organizers, students, and anyone identified on surveillance footage. Many protesters remain missing or imprisoned today.
The White Paper Movement was the largest anti-CCP demonstration since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests — a scale Beijing has never forgotten. The CCP’s aggressive pre-anniversary crackdowns reveal deep anxiety within its iron-fisted system of control:
- The regime still fears sudden mass mobilization that could overthrow it.
- Issues that sparked the 2022 protests — anger, trauma, distrust — remain unresolved.
- Figures like Peng Lifa, who displayed the iconic “Bridge Man” protest banner, have become symbols of popular dissent.
- Beijing worries anniversaries could reignite demonstrations.
The heavy policing around this year’s anniversary — detaining sensitive individuals, swarming tourists with plainclothes officers, and monitoring universities — underscores how deeply the 2022 uprising rattled the Party.
As one commenter noted, “Why does the regime fear even a blank sheet of paper? Because it knows exactly what the people want to write on it.”
