the White Paper Movement · Full chronicle and history

Dissatisfied with the long-term, strict dynamic zero-COVID lockdown policies, people across China launched rare nationwide protests. Demonstrators held up blank sheets of paper to symbolize censorship, eventually forcing the authorities to make a sudden and chaotic reversal of their pandemic control policies.

From late November to early December 2022, people in many parts of China held white-paper protests during memorials for the victims of the Urumqi fire, protesting the harsh zero-COVID policy and restrictions on speech.