Mass incidents in China

Mass incidents
Location
Caused by
Methods
  • Protesting
  • Sit-ins
  • Walk-outs
  • Violence
  • Vandalism
  • Riots
Mass incidents
Traditional Chinese群體性事件
Simplified Chinese群体性事件
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinqúntǐ xìng shìjiàn
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutpingkwan4 tai2 sing3 si6 gin6-2

Large-scale incidents of civil disobedience in the People's Republic of China are described by the Chinese government as "mass incidents" (Chinese: 群体性事件).[1][2]

Mass incidents are defined broadly as "planned or impromptu gathering[s] that form because of internal contradictions", and may include public speeches or demonstrations, physical clashes, public airings of grievances, and other group behaviors that are seen as disrupting social stability.[3] Through contemporary analysis of such events four key aspects of mass incidents have been identified "diversified participants, highly organized actions, easily escalated conflicts and thornier disputes to settle".[4] Mass incidents have occurred in China because of the treatment of workers within state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and special economic zones (SEZs), the widening of income disparities, and issues associated with development projects, namely forced land acquisition and environmental degradation.

Within the past few decades, the number of mass incidents occurring in China has seen significant growth, indicated by The Annual Report of China's Rules (2009).[5] In more recent times the numbers have continued to be high yet are less documented making reliable statistics rare, however it is definite that the frequency of mass incidents has increased, making these actions a vital threat to the stability of China.[4]

  1. ^ "The Mass Incident in Dazhu County". Archived from the original on 2014-10-09. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  2. ^ "Mass Incident Calmed in Central China". China Internet Information Center. March 14, 2007. Archived from the original on October 19, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  3. ^ Ran, Tao (2011-12-16). "China's land grab is undermining grassroots democracy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2011-12-23. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Zhang, Mingjun; Wu, Xinye, eds. (2017). Public Security and Governance in Contemporary China. Routledge. ISBN 9780367209308. Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
  5. ^ Wei, Jiuchang; Zhou, Lei; Wei, Yufang; Zhao, Dingtao (2014). "Collective Behaviour in Mass Incidents: a study of contemporary China". Journal of Contemporary China. 23 (88): 715–735. doi:10.1080/10670564.2013.861157. S2CID 144668154.