From March 17 to 19, 2026, hundreds of villagers in Shuikou Town, Xinyi City, Guangdong Province took to the streets for three consecutive days, demanding that authorities scrap a crematorium project situated near their village. They clashed violently with police on two separate occasions. In the days that followed, authorities deployed large numbers of riot police into the villages in an attempt to suppress dissent by force. Yet on March 25, the villagers refused to be intimidated and took to the streets once more to defend their homes.
Although the protest was once again met with violent crackdown, and the crematorium project now appears all but inevitable, the villagers of Xinyi have shown remarkable courage and solidarity in the face of overwhelming pressure. Under authoritarian rule, such resistance may rarely prevail — yet resistance is human nature. Where there is oppression, there will always be defiance. The cries of Xinyi’s villagers today may not change the fate of their village, but they have made visible to the world that in this land, there are still those who stand — with their own flesh and blood — to defend the most basic human dignity.
Quan Shixin (2026.03.25): “Do you know what lies behind all this glittering prosperity? It is built on the blood, sweat, and bones of ordinary people. If I say that Beijing’s prosperity today is just like the Great Wall built by the First Emperor of Qin — it is built upon countless buried bones.”
Quan Shixin, a Chinese human rights defender, was sentenced twice for criticizing the Communist Party. During her second imprisonment, the CCP demolished her only home.
Thousands of Wuhan Residents Resist Collectively, Tearing Down Toll Barriers Across Six Residential Communities (2026.03.24)
On the night of March 24, 2026, a large-scale collective act of resistance shook the city of Wuhan. In Zuoling New Town, located in the East Lake High-Tech Development Zone of Hubei Province, thousands of residents spontaneously gathered and proceeded to dismantle toll gate barriers at six residential communities one after another, putting an end to the property management company’s plan to impose mandatory parking fees.
Background
Zuoling New Town is the largest resettlement community in Wuhan’s East Lake High-Tech Zone. Residents began moving in from 2014 onward, and the community now has a permanent population of nearly 100,000, including approximately 40,000 villagers relocated from the original Zuoling Subdistrict. In the more than ten years since the community was established, residents had never been charged for parking.
Around the 2026 New Year, the property management company suddenly brought in a third-party firm and announced it would charge residents a monthly parking fee of 30 yuan, installing toll barriers at the entrances and exits of each community. The news immediately sparked a fierce backlash among residents.
Several residents stated that, given the resettlement nature of the land and the fact that they already pay property management fees, they are entitled to free parking. What further angered residents was that the property company had neither convened an owners’ assembly nor sought residents’ input before implementing the charges. Some residents also worried that if the fees were successfully introduced this time, costs could rise year after year going forward.
Escalating Conflict
Since the mandatory fee policy took effect, sporadic resistance had been ongoing — incidents of toll barriers being damaged, dismantled, or rammed by vehicles were reported across multiple communities. Starting March 19, elderly residents of Baihu Community were the first to launch a coordinated collective action: after being blocked from entering the community, they staged a sit-in protest at the gate, leading to multiple direct confrontations with fee collectors.
In the days that followed, the spirit of resistance continued to spread. Residents notified one another and called for collective action. During this period, one homeowner drew on Articles 275 and 278 of the Civil Code and other relevant provisions to write an article explaining the procedural and property-rights legal issues with the new charges, urging neighbors to stand together and defend their rights. The article circulated widely throughout the community.
Thousands Forcibly Dismantle Barriers Across Six Communities
By the evening of March 24, the situation escalated further. The resistance was ignited first in Baihu Community — after a brief standoff with the fee collectors, some elderly residents forcibly tore down all the toll barriers in that community. News spread quickly, and the elderly residents’ actions drew support from other homeowners. Thousands of villagers left their homes and joined the effort.
The wave of resistance then swept through Yuquan Community, Zuoling Community No. 4, No. 3, No. 2, and No. 1 in swift succession, with toll barriers at each location demolished one by one. By the time the night’s action was over, every single toll barrier across all six communities had been completely removed. This collective act of resistance — sparked first by the elderly and rapidly engulfing the entire community — ended in a total victory for the residents. Whether they can hold onto this outcome, however, remains to be seen.
Xinyi Current Situation (March 24): The intersection leading to the crematorium construction site has a police checkpoint inspecting passing vehicles; special police (SWAT) units remain stationed in the villages; Renmin Road in front of the Xinyi Municipal Government building continues to be blocked by police.
On March 22, in Nalu Village, Tanba Town, Wuchuan City, Guangdong, Chinese Communist Party police blocked the temple gates to prevent the traditional “Parade of the Gods” procession. Villagers were ultimately only able to worship through the police blockade.
On March 23, families of workers killed in an explosion at a Liyuan Technology workshop in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, gathered outside the factory demanding answers and asking to see their loved ones’ remains, only to be blocked by police. The explosion occurred on March 19 in the company’s nitration workshop, killing two workers. As of March 23, rescue workers had recovered only partial human remains. According to insiders, the workshop had long been ordered to cease operations, but with product prices surging this year, company management disregarded worker safety and illegally resumed production.
n Balihanji Town, Ningcheng County, Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, the Balihanji government sold the local agricultural trade and logistics hub — the Balihanji Market — to a shell company, with plans to enclose the market and charge entry fees. On March 21, local residents forcibly broke open the gates.
A patient death incident has recently occurred at Fenghe Psychiatric Hospital in Xingren City, Qianxinan Prefecture, Guizhou Province. According to the deceased’s family, the patient was admitted for treatment on March 12, and the hospital notified the family of the patient’s death on March 20. During the patient’s hospitalization, the hospital refused to allow family visits. On March 21 and 22, family members went to the hospital on two consecutive days demanding an explanation from the hospital, but received no response — and were instead asked by police to give statements.
On March 19, in Gulou Village, Longting District, Kaifeng, Henan, Chinese Communist Party officials and a forced demolition crew violently subdued the homeowner’s family before demolishing the home they had spent decades building.
On March 21, in Baishanshan Village, Baishui Lake, Xinjian County, Nanchang, Jiangxi, plainclothes CCP police entered villagers’ homes under the pretext of a “gambling crackdown” and assaulted residents, who then surrounded the officers. Recently, multiple incidents of police “anti-gambling” operations have occurred across southern Chinese provinces — in reality, these are targeting ordinary people playing casual mahjong for small stakes. When the economy deteriorates, crackdowns on gambling, prostitution, and street vendors tend to increase — the real purpose is to extract money.
