Despite the ranks of riot police, they came in their thousands: marching through the streets of the elegant port city of Dalian to demand the closure of a coastal chemical plant that came within a whisker of a major toxic leak.
This, however, was no movement of frustrated migrant workers or disgruntled peasants thrown off their land, but an orderly, 12,000-strong crocodile of China’s new well-to-do; smartly-dressed and smartphone-savvy, texting pictures of their defiance all around the world.
China’s authorities deal with a 100,000 'disturbances’ a year, but the protests in Dalian last weekend were different, forcing the local government to announce the closure of the £950m factory that generates £200m of tax revenues a year.
It was a rare humiliation; a rare demonstration of people power; but also a sign of things to come for China’s rulers as they confront a new breed of middle-class protestor that knows their 'rights’ and dares to challenge the corruption inherent in China’s one-party state. More...
Don't miss:
This, however, was no movement of frustrated migrant workers or disgruntled peasants thrown off their land, but an orderly, 12,000-strong crocodile of China’s new well-to-do; smartly-dressed and smartphone-savvy, texting pictures of their defiance all around the world.
China’s authorities deal with a 100,000 'disturbances’ a year, but the protests in Dalian last weekend were different, forcing the local government to announce the closure of the £950m factory that generates £200m of tax revenues a year.
It was a rare humiliation; a rare demonstration of people power; but also a sign of things to come for China’s rulers as they confront a new breed of middle-class protestor that knows their 'rights’ and dares to challenge the corruption inherent in China’s one-party state. More...
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