China's Gen Z finds creative ways to spread 'Bridge Man's' anti-Xi messages
Oct 28, 2022
Beijing [China], October 28 : The "Bridge Man" has fanned the flames of anger in China's Generation Z protestors, who were known for toeing the government line, and leading them into a quiet political awakening, having grown unhappy about China's censorship.
They are now prompted to get creative to spread anti-Xi messages. This comes after a column appeared over the Sitong Bridge overpass in the Haidian district of Beijing openly bashing China's President and criticizing their Zero-Covid policy, including one calling for "freedom and not lockdowns," reported New York Post.
Young people like him are emerging as unexpected rebels against Xi. As beginner protesters, they're timid, scared and inexperienced. They are ashamed that they have to ask for anonymity in media interviews and even hide their identities from each other. The risks are too high. But being part of the global anti-Xi protest movement empowers them.
The young protestors are now getting inspired by the lonely dissenter. These protestors are timid and scared however, they are experiencing a quiet political awakening, unhappy about censorship, repression and "zero Covid," reported New York Post.
Even as the Chinese government tried every possible way to censor any discussion of a rare public protest which condemned President Xi Jinping as a " despotic traitor" and denounced the COVID policy, the people on social media were able to spread the anti-Xi slogans in creative ways.
The slogans didn't go away. Instead, they caught on inside and outside China, online and offline. These protestors graffitied the slogans in public toilets in China.
They used Apple's AirDrop feature to send photos of the messages to fellow passengers' iPhones in subway cars. Protestors posted slogans on university campuses all over the world and they organized chat groups to bond and shouted "Remove Xi Jinping" in front of Chinese embassies.
All of this was perpetuated as the Communist Party was convening the all-important congress in Beijing and putting forth an image of a country singularly united behind a great leader, reported the New York Post.
Though many were hesitated by the protests, an organizer of an Instagram account known as Citizens Daily CN said, the Beijing protest made him feel, for the first time, "hopeful." "In this era of oppressive silence, there's anger in silence, hope in despair," the organizer said.
