[11] The failure of semi-institutionalized means of protest can eventually lead citizens to adopt more overt and public forms of resistance, such as sit-ins, picketing, coordinated hunger strikes,[12] or marches.
In isolated instances disaffected citizens have turned to rioting, bombings of government buildings and related targets,[13] or suicide as a form of protest.
[18][19] According to a 2011 survey conducted by Landesa, in cooperation with Renmin University of China and Michigan State University, which covered 1,791 households in 17 provinces, "about 43 percent" of villagers across China report being the victims of land grabs by the Government, which then sold it to private developers at an average cost of 40x higher per acre than the government paid to the villagers.
The same survey claims that, "according to Chinese researchers", an estimated 65 percent of the 180,000 annual "mass incidents" in China stem from grievances over forced land requisitions.
[20][21] Labor protests in China's industrial sector are common, as migrant workers resist low wages or poor working conditions.
One employee mentioned that Honda had been willing to compromise, but the government in Guangdong had spoken out against wage increases, fearing that similar demands could be made in other companies.
[33]: 42 As living standards improved, the new business class and increasingly independent intellectuals sought further political and economic relaxation.
[33]: 42–43 The events began with sporadic student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing following the death of former reformist leader and CCP general secretary Hu Yaobang.
[33]: 40 On 26 April, a front page editorial in People's Daily referred to the protests as anti-CCP rebellions, outraging the protestors who sought political concessions and official reassessment of their movement.
[33]: 44 On 13 May 1989, thousands of student protestors began a hunger strike, disrupting the state visit of Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1989 Sino-Soviet Summit.
The majority of protestors sought for the government to listen to their concerns, with few advocating for the overthrow of the CCP, although such demands increased as the protests continued.
In response, on 25 April Falun Gong mobilized the largest demonstration in China since 1989, gathering silently outside the Zhongnanhai central government compound to request official recognition and an end to the escalating harassment against them.
[48] CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin reportedly criticized Zhu for being "too soft," however, and ordered that Falun Gong be defeated.
[49] On 20 July 1999, the CCP leadership initiated a campaign to eradicate the group through a combination of propaganda, imprisonment, torture, and other coercive methods.
[50][51] In the first two years of the crackdown, Falun Gong practitioners in China responded by petitioning local, provincial, and national appeals offices.
Efforts at petitioning were often met with imprisonment, leading the group to shift tactics by staging daily, non-violent demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
[52] These demonstrations, which typically involved practitioners holding banners or staging meditation sit-ins, were broken up, often violently, by security agents.
[53] By late 2001, Falun Gong largely abandoned protests in Tiananmen Square, but continued a quiet resistance against the persecution campaign.
[56] In 2005, a protest was held in Beijing against the distortion of Japan's wartime past and against Tokyo's candidacy for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Protestors objected to the proposed bill on the grounds that the mainland PRC "justice system is marked by torture, forced confessions, arbitrary detentions and unfair trials.
Months of demonstrations convinced the then Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to suspend the bill, however, the movement continued as her government refused to answer the other four demands made by protesters.
[64]: 41 The Chinese government mediated the dispute, resulting in Taobao revising its seller fees and providing 1.8 billion RMB in support for small businesses using the platform.
[64]: 41 Following the 2016 result of the South China Sea arbitration, Kentucky Fried Chicken ("KFC") restaurants in Chinese cities became locations for public protests.
[55]: 126 Following public criticism and a 2018 inquiry from the State Administration of Market Regulation, the e-commerce company Pinduoduo increased efforts to prevent sales of counterfeit goods on its platform.
[66] A number of prominent Chinese dissidents, scholars, and rights defenders, and artists maintain blogs to which they post essays and criticisms of the CCP.
One innovative use of the internet as a medium for protest was a video created by artist Ai Weiwei, in which different Chinese citizens were filmed reading the names of victims from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, who died due to poor school construction.
The 2009 arrest of 21-year-old Deng Yujiao, who killed a local government official in self-defense when he tried to sexually assault her, sparked outrage among Chinese netizens, resulting in some four million posts online.