Beijing, China

China is witnessing a spontaneous wave of protests across the country, all thanks to its crumbling property sector.

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According to Freedom House’s data, more than 1,777 property-related demonstrations have taken place in the tightly monitored country between June 2022 and October 2023.

Almost 100 demonstrations are taking place in China every month, with as many as 276 cities witnessing such protests regularly.

In August 2023, about 100 workers-led protests took place, three times more than those took place the same month a year earlier.

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And notably, these are not one-time incidents. According to Nikkei Asia, one in seven protests were linked to past protests, which shows that the Chinese government has failed to address the concerns of suppliers, contractors and construction workers. 

All of them have gone unpaid for months.

On the other hand, millions of homebuyers are also writhing in anger after having channelled all of their investments into unfinished house projects, even as the country’s top developers, including China Evergrande Group and Country Garden Holdings, default on their borrowings.

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Crisis in China’s property sector

China’s property sector is the backbone of the Chinese economy, contributing more than a quarter of the world’s second-largest economy.

But the past few years have been a roller coaster ride. Investments have run dry, the housing market has cooled, which has led to a steep decline in prices.

According to Nikkei Asia, investment and property sales by volume last month were both 11 per cent lower in China than a year earlier.

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The constant turbulence in the sector, without much-needed intervention from the government, has angered homebuyers. 

In 2022, they began a campaign to boycott mortgage payments to press the authorities into addressing their grievances.

Decentralised movement on the rise

Centralised or organised movements can’t occur in China, under the watch of autocratic and megalomaniac CCP leaders. 

The crackdown on free speech in China has intensified especially under President Xi Jinping’s era, leaving no room for dissent.

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But that has not stopped people from forming a ‘decentralised movement’.

They are communication without direct coordination.

Last year, such protests did bear fruits, when the CCP was forced to abruptly end its draconian Zero Covid policy amidst mounting anger.

This year too, the crisis in China’s property sector has tested people’s patience for too long. As the Chinese government continues to adopt a heavy-handed approach towards dissent, and as courts continuously fail to address the grievances of the victims, this wave of protests will only get stronger and more lethal (for CCP) with time.

(With inputs from agencies)