Blank Sheets of Paper Become Symbol of Defiance in China Protests

Blank Sheets of Paper Become Symbol of Defiance in China Protests
People show blank papers as a way to protest, gather on a street in Shanghai on Nov. 27, 2022, where protests against China's zero-COVID policy took place the night before following a deadly fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region. Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images
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SHANGHAI/BEIJING—Chinese protesters have turned to blank sheets of paper to express their anger over COVID-19 restrictions in a rare, widespread outpouring of public dissent that has gone beyond social media to some of China’s streets and top universities.

Images and videos circulated online showed students at universities in cities including Nanjing and Beijing holding up blank sheets of paper in silent protest, a tactic used in part to evade censorship or arrest.