Could the Chinese protests be telling a hitherto unregarded story

...of national solidarity?

The Uighurs are one of the largest ethnic minorities in China. Photo by Kuzzat Altay on Unsplash

Much of the western media’s current coverage of China has been focussed on the fact that widespread demonstrations in that country are unprecedented. And that they are unprecedented because they require extraordinary bravery.

Indeed, the protests that started last week are a rare display of the Chinese people’s anger at their government, as well as the biggest show of Chinese public disobedience outside of Hong Kong since Tiananmen Square in 1989.

We all know what happened in Tiananmen Square. I clearly remember working on the next day’s edition at The Times of India in Delhi, as news of the massacre rolled in, to our horror. (We were young and naive.)

Which is why it’s right and proper to note just how brave the current demonstrations are, with protestors actually daring to chant the name of Xi Jinping, who has been the country’s supreme leader for a decade. In fact, demonstrations even broke out at Mr Xi’s alma mater, Tsinghua University, along with other places such as Urumqi, Nanjing…