White Paper Protests
Following a deadly fire in a locked-down Ürümqi apartment block, spontaneous protests erupted across Chinese cities with demonstrators holding blank white sheets of paper as a symbol of censorship; the rare public unrest contributed to the abrupt reversal of the zero-COVID policy weeks later.
The Ürümqi Fire
On November 24, 2022, a fire in a residential building in Ürümqi, Xinjiang killed at least 10 people. Videos circulating online showed residents apparently unable to evacuate freely, and fire trucks seemingly unable to reach the building — both attributed to COVID lockdown restrictions sealing exits and blocking roads. The deaths crystallised years of pent-up frustration with China's zero-COVID policy, its mounting human and economic costs, and its enforcement by the state apparatus.
The Protests
Within days, spontaneous vigils and protests erupted in dozens of Chinese cities — Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Chongqing, Guangzhou — and on university campuses. Protesters held up blank white sheets of paper, a symbol of the impossibility of free speech under censorship. Some protesters called openly for Xi Jinping to resign and the Communist Party to step down — demands not heard publicly in China since 1989. The protests were the most geographically dispersed public unrest in China since the Cultural Revolution.
Consequences: The End of Zero-COVID
Security forces monitored and in some cases detained protesters, but there was no nationwide crackdown. Within two weeks, the government began dismantling the zero-COVID apparatus with remarkable speed, removing testing requirements, ending mandatory quarantine, and restoring freedom of movement. The sudden reversal — with no public acknowledgment that protests had influenced the decision — was widely interpreted as a direct response to the demonstrations. The following months saw a large but poorly-counted wave of COVID deaths as Omicron spread through an under-vaccinated elderly population.