“Hundreds of Students Surround Henan’s Shaolin Tagou Martial Arts School for Days as Multiple Clashes Erupt (2026.08.21–23)”
From August 21 to 23, hundreds of former students of the Shaolin Tagou Martial Arts School gathered at the school in Dengfeng, Zhengzhou, Henan Province, for three consecutive days, demanding the return of security deposits that the school had withheld for years. According to the students, each was owed between 3,000 and 5,000 yuan, with some deposits having been withheld for more than a decade.
During the protest, the students clashed several times with school staff and teachers, leaving at least one student injured. Authorities deployed a large police presence to the school for “stability maintenance.” By August 23, following three consecutive days of collective protest, most of the students had recovered their deposits.
“Guizhou’s ‘Anti-Forced Cremation Movement’ Reignites as 1,000 Villagers Escort a Burial (2026.08.20)”
On August 20, after more than eight months of relative quiet, Guizhou farmers’ large-scale movement against forced cremation reignited. That day, more than a thousand villagers—many of them strangers to one another—spontaneously gathered in Yanxia Township, Guiding County, Qiannan Prefecture, Guizhou, to hold a traditional burial for an elderly person who had passed away and escort the body safely to its final resting place.
According to villagers, the local government has forcibly imposed its one-size-fits-all cremation policy for years, fueling longstanding public resentment and widespread calls for the abolition of this unreasonable system. Notably, in response to the thousand-strong funeral escort, the local government did not deploy personnel to block the procession or forcibly “seize the body,” as it had done in the past. Instead, it merely sent a drone to film and monitor the gathering from the air.
Between November 2025 and January 2026, large-scale farmers’ movements against forced cremation erupted across numerous parts of Yunnan and Guizhou. In their efforts to protect the bodies of the deceased, villagers repeatedly clashed with official “body-snatching squads.” The sustained mass resistance ultimately forced several local governments to compromise by canceling or suspending the policy.
During a clash in Xifeng County, Guizhou, on November 22, 2025, one farmer fiercely confronted government personnel who had entered the village to impose the policy: “If the Communist Party is in the business of digging up ancestral graves, then dig up Xi Jinping’s ancestral grave first.” The remark became one of the most direct expressions of the people’s defense of their traditions and dignity at the time.
“Jinjiang Shoe Factory Owner Accuses Workers Demanding Unpaid Wages of ‘Not Knowing What’s Good for Them’ (2026.08.20–22)”
On August 22, workers at Jiuyuan Shoe Factory in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, were accused by the factory owner of “not knowing what’s good for them” when they demanded their unpaid wages. Two days earlier, the factory had announced its closure. In an attempt to recover the wages owed to them, workers briefly blocked the road outside the factory and clashed with police dispatched to the scene, leaving three workers injured. The workers later sought help from the local government, but as of August 22, they still had not received their wages.
“Hundreds of Workers at Shanghai Huate Group Strike for Days Over Unpaid Wages (2026.08.18–21)”
From August 18 to 21, hundreds of workers at Huagu, Ziyuan, and Huate—three factories operated by Huate Group in Shanghai’s Jiading District—launched an all-out strike. The workers gathered outside the Jiading District Labor and Personnel Dispute Arbitration Institute, Huate Group’s headquarters, and other locations, demanding four months of unpaid wages.
Headquartered in Jiading District, Huate Group is a privately owned automotive parts manufacturer specializing in automotive interior components, sound insulation and noise-reduction parts, and polymer materials. It supplies major automakers including SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM, FAW-Volkswagen, and Ford, and operates subsidiaries and production facilities across China.
“Xiamen Authorities Violently Evict Street Vendors, Sparking Clashes and Injuring Three (2026.08.20)”
On August 20, outside Vanke Cloud City in Jimei District, Xiamen, Fujian Province, authorities deployed large numbers of urban management officers and police to evict street vendors, triggering several violent clashes that left three people injured and hospitalized. According to several informed netizens, the incident began after a well-connected local figure cordoned off a street and converted it into a night market, charging vendors monthly fees ranging from 3,500 to 7,500 yuan. Because the fees were too high, the vendors refused to operate inside the night market. Authorities subsequently accused those who had not paid the fees and continued operating along the street of “unauthorized roadside trading” and forcibly drove them away.
“Disaster-Affected Villagers in Nanning, Guangxi, Refuse to Recognize Dam Failure as a ‘Natural Disaster’ (2026.08.20)”
On August 20, residents of Liulan Village, Xiaoyi Town, Hengzhou, Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, were asked to sign a form titled “Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Natural Disaster Relief Application and Approval Form.” They were told that they would receive 1,000 yuan in relief funds after signing. However, the villagers believed that signing the form would amount to acknowledging that the Liulan Reservoir dam failure—which left many villagers dead—was a natural disaster. They therefore refused to sign.
“Female BYD Worker in Chengdu Scatters Joss Paper Outside Factory, Demands an End to Night Shifts (2026.08.20)”
On the afternoon of August 20, outside a BYD factory in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, a female worker livestreamed herself scattering joss paper while publicly demanding that Wang Chuanfu, chairman and president of BYD Group, abolish the night-shift system. Her courageous action was praised by many fellow workers. One worker said: “I work at BYD too. She is truly brave—she is a hero!”
“Pet Fair Asia in Shanghai Covers Up the Words ‘I Support Legislation for an Animal Protection Law’ (2026.08.20)”
On August 20, at Pet Fair Asia held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, security guards and staff attempted to cover up the words “I support legislation for an Animal Protection Law” written on a signature wall. Since the “Wangwang Incident” drew global attention earlier this month, the Chinese Communist Party has further tightened its censorship of related content.
“Unbowed After Five Years Behind Bars: Hong Kong Barrister Chow Hang-tung Faces Verdict in National Security Trial Today (2026.08.21)”
Chow Hang-tung, born in Hong Kong on January 24, 1985, is a Hong Kong barrister, human rights defender, and former vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, commonly known as the Hong Kong Alliance.
She studied natural sciences and geophysics at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom before pursuing research in seismology. She later left academia, returned to Hong Kong to study law, and qualified as a barrister. She has long been involved in human rights issues in mainland China and Hong Kong and has provided legal assistance to people prosecuted for participating in social movements.
In 2016, Chow became vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance. Founded in 1989, the organization long called for the vindication of the 1989 pro-democracy movement, accountability for the June Fourth crackdown, and the release of political prisoners in China. For more than three decades, it organized Hong Kong’s annual June Fourth candlelight vigil.
Following the imposition of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the June Fourth vigil was banned and the Hong Kong Alliance became a major target of the authorities. On June 4, 2021, Chow was arrested after calling on Hong Kong residents to commemorate June Fourth in their own ways. She was arrested again on September 8 of that year after refusing to provide national security police with information about the Alliance’s members, finances, and activities.
Chow refused to bow to pressure from the authorities. She rejected allegations that the Hong Kong Alliance was a so-called “foreign agent” and refused to cooperate with the Hong Kong police’s sweeping demands for information about a civil society organization. Even though she knew that defiance could cost her freedom, she stood by her judgment—and has paid for it with years of imprisonment.
Chow, former Alliance chair Lee Cheuk-yan, former vice-chair Albert Ho, and the Alliance itself were subsequently charged with “incitement to subversion of state power.” Prosecutors alleged that the Alliance’s longstanding political objectives, including “ending one-party dictatorship,” amounted to inciting others to subvert China’s state power.
Chow has remained in pretrial detention for nearly five years since her arrest in September 2021. The courts have denied her bail applications more than ten times, while her trial has repeatedly been postponed. Despite prolonged imprisonment, isolation, and the threat of up to ten years in prison, she has steadfastly refused to plead guilty or renounce her political convictions.
A qualified barrister, Chow has represented herself in court on multiple occasions. She has maintained that the Hong Kong Alliance pursued its demands peacefully for decades, and that commemorating June Fourth, seeking accountability for the crackdown, advocating political reform, and calling for an end to one-party rule are protected exercises of freedom of expression, association, and political participation.
On August 21, 2026, Hong Kong time, the Hong Kong High Court will deliver its verdict in the Alliance’s “incitement to subversion” case. On the eve of the verdict, Chow thanked the public for its longstanding support and well wishes through her Patreon page. She wrote that “justice resides in the hearts of the people” and that there was no need to look up to such a top-down judgment.
Chow also revealed that the Hong Kong Correctional Services Department had changed the way she was transported after the trial began. For every court appearance, she was restrained with handcuffs, ankle cuffs, a waist chain, and a leg chain, and escorted by correctional officers pulling an iron chain. The specially designed handcuffs and waist chain immobilized her wrists and upper body, forcing her to keep her shoulders hunched, her back bent, and her wrists flexed throughout the journey from Tai Lam Centre for Women to the West Kowloon court. Because she also had to carry heavy court documents, the handcuffs dug deeply into her wrists, leaving marks that remained visible throughout the day. Despite the pain, she described the future journeys as “elementary training” to build her physical endurance.
Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan continue to plead not guilty. If convicted, they could each face up to ten years in prison.
