“Villagers in Ordos Protest Uncompensated Land Seizure and Face Police Crackdown (2026.08.17)”
On August 17, in Chaideng Village, Shierliancheng Township, Jungar Banner, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, villagers protesting the local government’s seizure of land for road construction without compensation were subjected to a police crackdown. Several villagers, including elderly people and children, were beaten. Afterward, villagers went to the local police station to protest and demand accountability, but their efforts produced no result. Meanwhile, videos and information about the incident that villagers posted online were quickly deleted.
“Urban Management Officers in Tianhe, Guangzhou Beat Street Vendors and Seize Food Cart (2026.08.18)”
In the early hours of August 18, on Dapian Road in Tangxia Village, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, more than a dozen urban management officers surrounded and beat three street vendors before seizing their food cart.
“Factory in Jinjiang, Fujian Shuts Down; Workers Block Gate to Demand Unpaid Wages (2026.08.17)”
On August 17, Zhongmin Chushang Sporting Goods Co., Ltd., located inside the Jinlaike Industrial Park in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Fujian, shut down. Workers blocked the entrance to the industrial park, demanding two months of unpaid wages.
Recently, Jinjiang fire authorities have repeatedly ordered factories in the area to suspend production, carry out rectification, and undergo fire-safety inspections, leading several factories to announce closures.
Previously, Jinjiang fire authorities had faced strong condemnation from local residents and internet users for what critics described as a failure to act effectively during the rescue operation following a July 9 shoe-factory fire that caused heavy casualties.
“Villagers in Qujing, Yunnan Surround Local Official to Protest School Closure (2026.08.17)”
On the evening of August 17, more than one hundred villagers in Laowuyi Village, under the Kaxi Village Committee in Shibalian Mountain Township, Fuyuan County, Qujing City, Yunnan Province, surrounded a local official to protest the local government’s plan to merge and relocate Laowuyi Primary School, the village’s only school.
Villagers said that in many local families, children are being cared for by elderly relatives because their parents work away from home. If the school is closed and merged with another school, these elderly caregivers would be unable to transport the children over long distances on a regular basis.
The villagers demanded that if the school merger is deemed necessary, school-bus transportation must be provided, younger pupils must not be forced to board at school, and adequate supporting arrangements must be put in place. If the authorities decide to impose the merger, they should produce a formal approval document bearing the official seal of the county-, municipal-, or provincial-level education authorities.
“For years, the Chinese Communist Party has spent enormous sums on ‘stability maintenance’ in an effort to achieve comprehensive control over society. Yet from the large numbers of self-organized ‘e-parents’ who emerged during the ‘Xiao Luoxi Incident’ late last year, to the recent ‘Avoid the Plague God’ movement involving more than one million merchants in Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and elsewhere, and now the ‘Wangwang Storm’ and the ‘Zhuzhiliao Incident,’ these developments all point to the same trend: as traditional spaces for organization have been severely compressed, Chinese society is continually generating new forms of spontaneous, collaborative protest that are more decentralized and harder to detect and suppress in advance.
The contest between a regime seeking to ‘control everything’ and a society continually finding new ways to reconnect and re-engage in public affairs is far from over.”
“Suzhou Authorities Deploy Police to Evict Street Vendors in Kunshan, Sparking Clashes” (August 14, 2026)
On the evening of August 14, authorities in Bacheng, Kunshan, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, deployed large numbers of police, riot police and urban management officers to evict vendors operating near Lixun Precision Industry (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. Clashes broke out between the two sides. The “Ecological Environment Code of the People’s Republic of China” is set to take effect on August 15. In recent days, local governments in multiple cities have cited the new code to revoke street vendors’ operating licenses, deploying police and urban management officers to drive them out en masse. Amid prolonged economic slowdown and a shrinking job market this year, growing numbers of unemployed people have turned to street vending, a low-barrier means of survival. With the new regulation now taking effect, these vendors, many of whom took up street selling only after losing their jobs, face losing their livelihoods once again.
“Forced Demolition of Greenhouses in Xianghe, Hebei Ends in Tragedy; Villager Hospitalized With Extensive Burns (2026.08.13)”
On August 12, in Houtumenlou Village, Wubaihu Town, Xianghe County, Langfang, Hebei Province, the local government dispatched a large number of police officers, government personnel, and security guards into the village to forcibly demolish greenhouses on villagers’ subsistence farmland. According to villagers, no compensation was provided for the demolitions.
During the forced demolition, a tragic incident occurred in which one villager suffered extensive burns over much of his body and was subsequently rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. As the authorities have blocked information about what happened afterward, it remains unclear exactly how the villager was burned. His current condition and subsequent developments also remain to be confirmed.
“Weifang Man Says RMB 180,000 ‘Wealth Management Insurance’ Turned Into Whole Life Insurance, Can Only Get RMB 25,000 Back (2026.08.11)”
On August 11, a man in Hanting District, Weifang, Shandong Province, said that he had previously purchased a “wealth management insurance” product worth RMB 180,000 from Ping An Insurance, only to later discover that the product had somehow become a whole life insurance policy.
That day, he went to Ping An Insurance to request a refund, but was told that if he surrendered the policy now, he could only receive about RMB 25,000. In the end, he failed to get his money back and was instead driven out by staff.
“Chengdu Chengshi Group Workers Suppressed by Police During Wage Protest, Several Detained (2026.08.12)”
On August 12, dozens of workers from Chengshi Group in Sanhe Subdistrict, Xindu District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, were suppressed by police while blocking the factory entrance to demand unpaid wages. Several workers were detained.
According to the workers, in an effort to evade responsibility for paying wage arrears and other obligations, Chengshi Group even changed the company’s legal representative to an ordinary worker.
Earlier, on July 7, workers had used the same tactic of blocking the factory entrance to demand their wages, but that protest was likewise suppressed by police.
