Demonstrators in Hong Kong and across China recently wielded unusual weapons: blank sheets of white paper, signifying their protest against the strict lockdowns and censorship carried out by the Chinese Communist Party and its state-controlled media.
China’s newly implemented COVID-19 lockdowns with their accompanying restrictions, protocols, and laws sparked the frustration which ignited the protests.
The use of paper for the demonstration sent M&G Stationery shares down 3% this week. The stationery company based in Shanghai operates over 80,000 retail stores across China.
Legacy media outlets reported that paper sales were halted to “maintain national security and stability” and “prevent outlaws from hoarding a large amount of A4 white paper and using it for illegal subversive activities.”
The company released a statement saying that report was false. Stock prices had dropped, but after M&G Stationery reported that “the company’s current production and operation are all normal,” they rebounded.
After M&G Stationery filed a police report about the internet hoax, sales of A4 paper (the standard size for printing) were halted online.
The protests began after a deadly fire broke out in Urumqi last week, where nine trapped people were injured and 10 were killed, ostensibly because rescuers could not reach them because of the lockdown protocols.
The city has been under lockdown for more than 100 days, forcing residents to stay home; they could not leave even when the fire had broken out.
Videos circulated last week of residents chanting from buildings wanting lockdowns to end. Many social media posts and critical articles online have been silenced and remotely expunged by the Chinese regime, sparking the white paper protests.
“People can read behind the blank paper: the anger, the dissatisfaction, and the desire for democracy and freedom. Everything is already there,” Chinese human rights activist, lawyer, and academic Teng Biao stated while living in exile in the U.S.
China continues to enforce a strict COVID-19 policy, locking down areas where anyone is infected and continuing to test citizens — some by force — daily.
