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Blank sheets of paper become symbol of defiance in China protests (Pollard & Goh, 2023)

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The 'white paper revolution' emerged in China during the last week of November（2022）. The 'white paper revolution' was a public protest movement criticizing the measures taken by the government to control COVID-19 (Che & Chien, 2022).
The protest was showcased on online platforms as well by uploading plain blank paper on Weibo and WeChat. However, soon these online posts were shadow-banned and taken down. It led to people using different techniques to criticize the government indirectly.

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BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Chinese protesters have turned to blank sheets of paper to express their anger over COVID-19 restrictions in a rare, widespread outpouring of public dissent that has gone beyond social media to some of China's streets and top universities.

Images and videos circulated online showed students at universities in cities including Nanjing and Beijing holding up blank sheets of paper in silent protest, a tactic used in part to evade censorship or arrest.

China is adhering to its tough zero-COVID policy even while much of the world tries to coexist with the coronavirus.

The latest wave of anger was triggered by an apartment fire that killed 10 people on Thursday in Urumqi, a far western city where some people had been locked down for as long as 100 days, fueling speculation that COVID lockdown measures may have impeded residents' escape.

In Shanghai, a crowd that started gathering late on Saturday to hold a candlelight vigil for the Urumqi victims held up blank sheets of paper, according to witnesses.

Similar sheets of paper could be seen held by people at separate Sunday gatherings on the grounds of Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University and along the Chinese capital's 3rd Ring Road near the Liangma River.

"The white paper represent everything we want to say but cannot say," said Johnny, 26, who took part in one of the Liangma River gatherings.

"I came here to pay respects to the victims of the fire I really hope we can see an end to all of these COVID measures. We want to live a normal life again. We want to have dignity."

One widely shared video said to be from Saturday, which could not be independently verified, showed a lone woman standing on the steps of the Communication University of China in the eastern city of Nanjing with a piece of paper before an unidentified man walks into the scene and snatches it away.

Other images showed dozens of other people subsequently taking to the university's steps with blank sheets of paper，illuminated against the night sky by flashlights from their mobile phones.

A man could later be seen chiding the crowd for their protest.

"One day you'll pay for everything you did today," he said, in videos seen by Reuters.

"The state will also have to pay the price for what it has done," people in the crowd shouted back.

Widespread in-person protests are rare in China, where room for dissent has been all-but eliminated under President Xi Jinping, forcing citizens mostly to vent on social media where they play cat-and-mouse games with censors.

In Hong Kong in 2020, activists also raised blank sheets of white paper in protest to avoid slogans banned under the city's new national security law, which was imposed after massive and sometimes violent protests the previous year. Demonstrators in Moscow have also used them this year to protest Russia's war with Ukraine.

One Beijing resident surnamed Wang, who joined his neighbours on Saturday in pressuring local authorities to release his apartment from lockdown, described his sadness at hearing about "secondary disasters" involving the COVID policy.

Wang was referring to incidents in China which provoked anger on social media, including a pregnant woman who miscarried after being refused entry to a Xian hospital in January, the deadly crash of a bus in Guizhou ferrying people being quarantined, and a young boy in Lanzhou who died from gas poisoning while under lockdown.

"Any of that could have happened to me or my wife," he told Reuters.

Several Internet users showed solidarity by posting blank white squares or photos of themselves holding blank sheets of paper on their WeChat timelines or on Weibo. By Sunday morning, the hashtag "white paper exercise" was blocked on Weibo, prompting users to lament the censorship.

"If you fear a blank sheet of paper, you are weak inside," one Weibo user posted.

Reporting by Brenda Goh, Martin Pollard and Yew Lun Tian; Editing by Kim Coghill and Michael Perry

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Martin is a (China) political and general news correspondent based in Beijing. He has previously worked as a TV reporter and video journalist and is fluent in Mandarin and French.

Brenda Goh is Reuters' Shanghai bureau chief and oversees coverage of corporates in China. Brenda joined Reuters as a trainee in London in 2010 and has reported stories from over a dozen countries. Contact (used only for Signal): +442071932810

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Blank sheets of paper become symbol of defiance in China protests

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Chinese protesters have turned to blank sheets of paper to express their anger over COVID-19 restrictions in a rare, widespread outpouring of public dissent that has gone beyond social media to some of China's streets and top universities.

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This particular research intends to evaluate:

1. What are the impacts of China's Internet censorship on the dissemination of information and international interaction on a global scale?

2. How do the intricacies of China's censorship mechanisms shape how individuals and society adapt to and resist censorship?

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The Chinese netizens continue to face situations where they are under strict supervision and government control. Over the years, Chinese citizens have found different tactics to express themselves, for example, using VPNs or homophones of restricted keywords (Marks, 2023). This study intends to evaluate the techniques, processes, and ways netizens apply in order to escape censorship while presenting their thoughts, particularly when criticizing the government and its approach.

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This study will be a discourse analysis.

The public posts related to the 'white paper revolution' on Weibo between 24th November to 31st December 2022 will be collected

A detailed discussion of the languages, techniques, expressions presented in these posts will be analyzed

Further comparisons would be made by previous situations and incidences where public expressed themselves by dodging government censorship creatively

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Weibo userbase in China Source: Daniel, 2023

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Weibo is the most widely used social media platform with over 253 million active users last recorded in September 2022 (Daniel, 2023). Hence, studying activities on netizens on this platform is feasible.

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Chinese Netizens filled Weibo with posts and protests against the government from During the last week of November Source: Reddit, 2022

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Key Findings 2: Chinese Netizens Protests on Weibo

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Key Findings 2: Chinese Netizens Protests on Weibo

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The initial responses of the Netizens showcased outrage, which was soon taken down. The public resorted to using cryptic keywords in order to dodge the government ban.

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A4 Revolution! White Paper Revolution Source: ChannelDraw, 2022

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Key Findings 4: Online posts related to 'white paper revolution'

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Key Findings 4: Online posts related to 'white paper revolution'

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Use of memes, caricatures, and pictures became common in different other social media sites including Twitter (ChannelDraw, 2022). The buzz of the revolution started getting international recognition and coverage.

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Key Findings 6: Many netizens criticized the white paper revolution 

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Key Findings 6: Many netizens criticized the white paper revolution 

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Key Findings 3: Cryptic Methods used in Weibo

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Key Findings 3: Cryptic Methods used in Weibo

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Key Findings 5: German Embassy in China showed solidarity on Weibo

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Key Findings 5: German Embassy in China showed solidarity on Weibo

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ChannelDraw. (2022, November 30). A4 revolution! white paper revolution 白纸革命.  https://www.channeldraw.org/2022/11/28/a4-revolution-white-paper-revolution-%E7%99%BD%E7%BA%B8%E9%9D%A9%E5%91%BD/
Ch, D. (2023). Sina Weibo Usage and Revenue Statistics (2023). https://www.usesignhouse.com/blog/sina-weibo-stats
Marks, T. (2023, February 10). Censorship in China: How to bypass the Great Firewall of China. VPNOverview.com. https://vpnoverview.com/unblocking/censorship/internet-censorship-china/
Pollard, M., & Goh, B. (2022, November 28). Blank sheets of paper become symbol of defiance in China protests. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/blank-sheets-paper-become-symbol-defiance-china-protests-2022-11-27/
Reddit. (2022). German embassy in Beijing posts White Paper on Weibo in response to the White Paper Revolution. Available at: https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/z9m1ot/german_embassy_in_beijing_posts_white_paper_on/?rdt=43700 (Accessed: 07 October 2023).
Soo, Z. (2022, December 6). Chinese users play cat-and-mouse with censors amid protests. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/technology-health-hong-kong-shanghai-covid-5452012336b1f8bbbd8b4658e87be453

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This research intends to evaluate Chinese netizen's reaction to government censorship of social media. It uses a discourse analysis method to evaluate the recent 'white paper revolution' on Weibo. The preliminary findings suggested that there were initial direct government criticism which were taken down under censorship. It is followed by use of cryptic language, sarcasm, and other techniques to dodge the issue. The protest became big on other social media as well.