White Paper Revolution: Here's How Blank Sheets Of Paper & Maths Symbols Became Loudest Voices Of Dissent In China

As China continues to follow their stringent Covid-19 protocols, which have had people locked up in their houses for the past three years, many are now daring to step out on the streets. The catalyst for the protests was a fire that broke out in a high-rise building in the Urumqi region. At least ten people were killed in the fire as the strict lockdown protocols hampered the rescue efforts.

Protesting against the zero-Covid policy, the Chinese are now taking to the streets with one of the most creative and boldest displays of dissent seen in years. While protests are not rare with China's repressive regime, the authorities have over time imposed tight control over the media and internet, and go to lengths to ensure that the demonstrations do not turn into a broader movement. Evading possible charges by the authorities and voicing their dissent, the people have begun using blank papers, maths equations, music, alpacas, and so on, to convey their dissatisfaction with the ruling regime.

The White Paper Revolution

For every restriction and regulation imposed by the Chinese regime, the people held a simple blank A-4 sheet of paper. The paper indicates the lack of free speech in the country and also puts forward a powerful question to the authorities as to how arrests can be made if nothing is written on the papers they hold during the protests. Evading censorship and arrests, they hold blank papers that speak volumes. So while it reads nothing, everyone understands what is being talked about.

People in Beijing marching on the third ring road… singing… and holding up empty white papers…

The empty white paper symbolizes their protest against censorship in China. 🔥🔥🔥

🔊sound ...🧐#China #ChinaProtests pic.twitter.com/Rwg24s9Nul

— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) November 27, 2022

Many tweets that came about stated that in a country where no form of protest is acceptable, the only way to protest without offending those in power is by holding a blank paper. The blank papers were held by protesters in many cities and conveyed an important message of their unity against the regime and its efforts to silence them.

A report by the FirstPost stated that the blank paper protests are an idea borrowed from the 2020 Hong Kong protests against Beijing's strict National Security Laws. Many activists, politicians, and residents held up blank sheets of paper after the authorities banned "secessionist, subversive activities" with penalties of up to life imprisonment.

Symbols And Songs

Few other dared to put texts and symbols on their sheets to send their message against the government. One group of protestors printed the Friedman equation, which sounds like the words "Freed man". Some others held an exclamation mark on a red background - the sign that indicates the message has not been delivered in WeChat.

Students from the elite school Tsinghua University protested with Friedmann equation. I have no idea what this equation means, but it does not matter.
It's the pronunciation: it's similar to "free的man" (free man)—a spectacular and creative way to express, with intelligence. pic.twitter.com/m5zomeTRPF

— Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) November 27, 2022

Soon, the movement saw mockery of the zero-Covid policy turning viral. Netizens spread memes about the ongoing World Cup and showed images of unmasked football fans and players as a retort to the covid protocols in the country. This was soon followed by anonymous groups posting repurposed videos that showed President Xi supporting mass demonstrations through statements such as "Now the Chinese people are organised and aren't to be trifled with".

After a point in time, many protestors took to the streets and yelled sarcastic slogans like "No to COVID tests, yes to freedom", or "I want to do COVID tests! I want to scan my health code". Some were also seen singing the national anthem and the Internationale at their gatherings, as a sarcastic response to the government's accusations that protests were unpatriotic or instigated by foreign forces.

When police ask the protesters not to chant "no more lockdowns", so they chant this instead:

"MORE LOCKDOWNS!"
"I WANT TO DO COVID TESTS!"

Folks. Let me remind you this brave effort also encapsulates the highest Chinese wisdom: weaponized passive aggressiveness. pic.twitter.com/PlzK2PCiMW

— Tony Lin 林東尼 (@tony_zy) November 27, 2022

Breaking Past The Firewall

Many people took to their WeChat profiles to express their dissent. They changed their profile pictures to white squares similar to the blank paper held in the protests. Users also started posting nonsensical posts with "positive" meanings that simply read "right right right right right" and "good good good", as the government kept blocking obvious keywords and tags. This move too went viral much in vain to the authorities' efforts.

While one section of the authoritative regime had deployed personnel to take down protest-related news and keywords and blocked international social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, the tech-savvy crowd have been posting information on the protests using the Virtual Private Network (VPN) software. Taking messages and live streams across through anonymous accounts, their dissent has broken past the virtual firewall. This also enabled many Chinese students studying abroad to organise similar protests and build them into a broader demonstration.

With the continued censorship on social media, users began stepping into sarcasm and wordplay that could not be detected immediately. Terms like "banana peel", which has the same initials as President Xi Jinping's name in Chinese, and "shrimp moss", which sounds similar to the phrase "step down" were being used to declare the President to step down.

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