‘The protest of our generation’: China’s first-time demonstrators try to find a voice
TAIPEI, Taiwan — It was the middle of the night in Shanghai when Jack’s phone rang, with a message from a friend: Something big is happening.
That message was already spreading across social media, momentarily overwhelming Chinese censors. As the evening of Nov. 26 progressed, hundreds gathered downtown for a vigil on Urumqi Road. They began to chant, calling for an end to COVID-related lockdowns and endless PCR tests. Some shouted for free speech and press freedom. Others went so far as to demand that President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party as a whole step down.
The very thought of joining the crowd made Jack nervous. But the 23-year-old, who declined to give his Chinese name for fear of retribution from authorities, said he needed to see it for himself. He got out of bed, called a cab and, in less than 20 minutes, joined his first protest in China.
“To be honest, I didn’t have any set goal,” he said. “Maybe our actions that night were ultimately futile. But I just felt that it was a necessity, an obligation, to stand with them.”
That weekend, thousands of
