On March 17 at Shaanxi’s Xi’an Construction Engineering Group, after a scuffle between unpaid construction workers and company staff, a female worker desperately grabbed onto the legs of two men. One was the project manager, and the other was just someone trying to stop the fight.
On the evening of March 14, in Wahutong Village, Changyanbao Subdistrict, Yanta District, Xi’an, Shaanxi, the subdistrict office hired individuals to enter the village and sabotage the election. Carrying ballot boxes door-to-door, they forced villagers to vote according to the subdistrict office’s wishes. This ultimately sparked public outrage, and after being surrounded, they fled in panic.
February 11, at BYD Jixian in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province: after a worker died by jumping from a building, the worker’s family members seeking an explanation were blocked outside the factory for the sixth consecutive day by a human barricade formed by BYD staff.
“Xi’an BYD Workers Go on Strike to Protest Pay Cuts (2026.02.05)”
On February 5, workers at BYD’s high-voltage electrical equipment factory located in the Jixian Industrial Park of the Xi’an High-tech Zone, Shaanxi Province, went on a collective strike to protest cuts to piece-rate bonuses.
According to workers, under BYD’s continued cost-cutting, the piece-rate bonus has been reduced from a previous maximum of 2,400 yuan per month to just 300–600 yuan. As a result, after deductions for social insurance and housing fund contributions, many workers’ monthly take-home pay has fallen to less than 2,000 yuan.
Two Years Without Pay: Hundreds of Pilots and Flight Attendants in Xi’an Stage Sustained Rights Protests (2025.12.29–31)
From December 29 to 31, 2025, hundreds of pilots and cabin crew gathered for several consecutive days at locations including the Shaanxi provincial government, demanding solutions to long-overdue wage arrears and unpaid social security benefits. All participants are employees of the same company—Joy Air.
According to employees, Joy Air has failed to pay regular wages to more than a thousand frontline staff for two consecutive years, and pilots’ hourly flight pay has also been withheld for prolonged periods. In addition, the company has not made legally required contributions to medical insurance, social insurance, or the housing provident fund for nearly four years. To sustain a basic livelihood, many pilots have been forced to change professions—delivering food, driving ride-hailing vehicles, or working as private tutors; some have even gone abroad to take up manual labor such as construction, renovation, or courier work. Cabin crew members, meanwhile, often rely on street vending or livestream e-commerce to get by. The stark gap between their current incomes and their professional identities has left many employees deeply disheartened. What has further fueled resentment is that, despite prolonged wage arrears and a complete suspension of operations, company executives have continued to receive salaries.
Founded in 2008 as a joint venture between the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and China Eastern Airlines, Joy Air is headquartered in Xi’an, Shaanxi. It was positioned as a demonstration operator for domestically produced regional aircraft, with the MA60 as its core fleet. In late April 2025, Joy Air abruptly suspended all flights and has yet to resume operations. Data from Tianyancha show that between January and April 2025 alone, the company was listed as a judgment debtor eight times, with the largest single enforcement claim reaching RMB 124 million. Based on information from multiple sources, Joy Air’s total liabilities are currently estimated at around RMB 5 billion.
In the past, “domestically produced aircraft” was Joy Air’s core selling point. Today, however, it has come to be viewed as the “culprit” behind the crisis. As operations collapsed, senior management shifted blame to the very aircraft model on which the airline was founded, claiming that the MA60 suffers from “inherent deficiencies.” Many employees disagree, arguing that long-standing governance failures, opaque use of funds, and flawed management decisions are the true root causes of the company’s predicament.
In September 2025, company management promised employees that if no new investor could be introduced by the end of the year, the local government would provide a financial backstop. That expectation quickly fell apart. In December 2025, senior executives made it clear that “the government will not step in,” and for the first time publicly raised the possibility that the company could enter “bankruptcy liquidation.” Previous commitments were shelved, and as the New Year arrived, employees’ last hopes for the company’s future were completely shattered.
“Forced Land Expropriation for a High-Speed Rail Project in Xi’an, Shaanxi Triggers Violent Clash, Leaving Two Burned (2025.12.17)”
On December 17, a violent confrontation broke out during land expropriation related to the Xi’an–Yan’an High-Speed Rail project in Shaanxi Province, resulting in injuries to two people. The incident occurred in Dongtang Group, Chunshu Village, Xiquan Subdistrict, Lintong District, Xi’an. On the same day, local authorities deployed a large number of personnel to carry out forced land seizures and assaulted villagers who resisted. During the confrontation, one villager fought back using gasoline, burning a member of the expropriation team, while also suffering injuries himself.
Central SOE Cuts Features and Slashes Prices: Hundreds of Homeowners in Xi’an Furiously Smash Sales Office (2025.12.19–20)
From December 19 to 20, a fierce homeowners’ rights protest broke out in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. At CR Land Harbour City (Huaren Gangyue City), a residential project developed by China Resources Land—a central state-owned enterprise (SOE)—a sudden, “halving-style” price cut to clear inventory, combined with long-unresolved allegations of false advertising over school zoning, ignited the anger of hundreds of homeowners. For several days, enraged crowds gathered at the sales office, smashing scale models and damaging parts of the facility.
A Backstab by a Central SOE: “Ten Years of Work Lost Overnight”
The immediate trigger was the recent “halving-style” promotional campaign launched at CR Land Harbour City. Multiple homeowners confirmed that the project’s previous average price was about RMB 15,000 per square meter. Around December 19, however, the developer abruptly slashed prices to RMB 8,500–9,000 per square meter for a “clearance sale.”
A drop of 40–50 percent meant that early buyers saw their assets evaporate almost overnight. One young male homeowner did the math at the protest: “I make 6,000 yuan a month—one night and I lost 600,000.” Another woman said angrily, “The annual bank interest alone is 50,000 yuan—how much can I earn just working by myself?” Some recent buyers said they had purchased less than ten days earlier; before even receiving their homes, their paper losses already exceeded RMB 150,000. For many Chinese families who drained the savings of “six wallets” and took on 30-year mortgages, this plunge is not just numbers on a page but a massive, real loss of assets. A female homeowner angrily confronted the developer on site: “We’ve almost had our families torn apart because of this home—do you know that?”
False Advertising: From “Elite School” to “Village School”
If the price cut was the last straw, then the alleged “school-zone fraud” was the long-buried powder keg. According to homeowners, during early sales CR Land Harbour City implicitly or explicitly suggested the project would be paired with top local schools such as Xi’an’s well-known Tieyi Middle School. A significant portion of the high price reflected the premium buyers paid for an “elite school zone.” After delivery, however, homeowners found that the promised “elite schools” were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they faced an undemolished urban-village environment and the assigned No. 64 Middle School—dismissed by residents as a “village school.”
“We spent several million yuan to send our child here to school—was it just to attend a village school?” a mother demanded at the protest. She said she had taken on debt against her family’s wishes solely for her child’s future. “Now there are arguments at home every day. Our child can’t get into a good school, and our assets have shrunk by more than a million yuan. How are we supposed to live like this?”
In fact, protests over the school zoning had already erupted in June 2025. A group of homeowners known as the “Gangdong Seven” had staged collective demonstrations, accusing China Resources of false advertising after the school promises failed to materialize. Half a year later, the issue remains unresolved—and the drastic price cuts have only intensified the conflict.
The New Normal After the Property Bust
The clash at CR Land Harbour City in Xi’an reflects a broader post-collapse reality of China’s real-estate market. On one side are developers forced to “sell at a loss to survive” amid a prolonged downturn. On the other are homeowners who emptied family savings to buy property, only to watch their assets shrink while continuing to shoulder heavy mortgage payments. Yet even they are not the worst off. Worse still are owners of unfinished, stalled projects—people who cannot even move into their homes but must continue repaying their loans regardless.
“Compensation Set at Only 0.3N: Hundreds of Supermarket Employees Protest for Days (Oct 20–22, 2025)”
Hundreds of employees from Renrenle Supermarket branches across China gathered for three consecutive days, from October 20 to 22, outside the company’s headquarters in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. They protested against long-term wage arrears and unpaid social insurance contributions, demanding fair compensation.
According to employees, Renrenle’s controlling shareholder, Qujiang Cultural Investment Group (Qujiang Wintop), in an effort to “maintain its listing status,” conducted a capital restructuring by transferring 13 Renrenle subsidiaries to shell companies for just 1 yuan each. After shifting the debts, the company continued to pay executive salaries while ordinary employees went unpaid, lacked social insurance coverage, and were denied severance compensation upon resignation. Over the past year, Renrenle employees in cities such as Shenzhen, Nanning, and Tianjin have repeatedly staged protests to demand unpaid wages and insurance.
At the protest site, employees chanted slogans such as “We need to eat!” and “We want compensation!” According to those present, the company insisted on compensating workers based on a “0.3N” formula—far below China’s legal standard—resulting in no progress in the negotiations.
Public records show that Renrenle Chain Commercial Group Co., Ltd. (Renrenle) was founded in 1996 and was one of China’s earliest large-scale supermarket chains. Initially headquartered in Shenzhen, it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010 but was delisted in 2025 after years of financial losses.
In recent years, Renrenle has closed a large number of stores nationwide, affecting thousands of employees. Its controlling shareholder, Xi’an Qujiang Cultural Industry Investment (Group) Co., Ltd.—a state-owned enterprise—took over in 2021, pledging to “restructure Renrenle and preserve jobs.” However, as losses continued to mount, labor protests have become increasingly frequent.
“Seven Days and Nights Seeking Unpaid Wages, Worker Breaks Down in Tears (Oct 13–20, 2025)”
On October 20, after seven days and nights of unsuccessful efforts to claim their unpaid wages, a woman broke down in tears inside the headquarters of Gaoke Group in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province.
According to the workers, they are among the 14 construction workers who built the Hongmiaocun resettlement housing project developed by Gaoke Group. Although the project was completed and delivered for use half a year ago, the workers have yet to receive wages owed from three years ago. They have repeatedly gone to Gaoke Group to demand payment, but without success. Since last year alone, Gaoke Group and the construction contractor, Xi’an Construction Engineering Group, have made four separate promises to pay the wages — none of which have been fulfilled.
On October 13, the workers launched another wage claim action, standing vigil day and night at the Gaoke Group headquarters, and have continued their protest ever since.
On October 11, in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, hundreds of investors gathered at the Xi’an Petition Center, chanting slogans and demanding the redemption of government bonds. The Xi’an Jingwei Government Bond Service Department collapsed in March this year, leaving thousands of investors with total losses. They have staged multiple protests since then.