Rural Protests Rise Across China as Economic Slowdown Deepens

Researchers report a 70 percent increase in rural unrest this year, as local disputes, land tensions, and returning migrant workers strain China’s countryside.

Villagers eat together outside a local house in a farming community in She County, Anhui Province, China, on May 12, 2023. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

As China’s economy continues to slow, social tensions in rural areas are escalating, with a sharp increase in protests this year, according to researchers who track civil unrest in the country.

Data compiled by China Dissent Monitor, a project affiliated with Washington-based nonprofit organization Freedom House, show that by the end of November, rural protest incidents had risen by about 70 percent compared with all of last year. According to the project’s data, 661 rural protest incidents were recorded in the first 11 months of this year.

Two separate incidents in that month were part of his pattern of conflicts between local governments and rural residents. In both cases, the actions of communist authorities encroached on local traditions and practices.

In mid-November, local governments in Lingao County in Hainan Province and Fuchuan County in Guangxi Province demolished a privately built temple and a clan ancestral hall, respectively. The actions sparked physical confrontations between villagers and local officials, according to accounts that circulated online.

Later in November, two separate farmer protests erupted in Xifeng County, Guiyang, in southwestern Guizhou Province. The demonstrations were triggered by a local government mandate requiring that all residents’ remains be cremated after death. Villagers said the policy violated traditional burial customs that required ground burial.

Although such confrontations and protests were limited to specific regions, such incidents are increasingly being reported across the country. 

More broadly, the China Dissent Monitor found that protests have continued to rise, with 1,392 protest incidents nationwide noted during the third quarter of 2025, a 45 percent increase from the same period in 2024 and the sixth consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth.

Economic Pressure, Returning Migrant Workers

In China, many job seekers have left rural areas to seek work in cities in hopes of improving their livelihoods. However, as economic growth has slowed and competition has intensified, many migrant workers have been forced to return to their hometowns—only to find limited opportunities and worsening living conditions.

Australian-based Chinese author and legal scholar Yuan Hongbing told The Epoch Times that the Chinese regime’s moves reflect growing concern about potential instability, as it fears that migrant workers permanently returning home would lead to increased discontent over worsening living conditions in rural China.

Land disputes remain a frequent trigger. In many cases, migrant workers return to their rural hometowns to see their land being expropriated.

Yuan said that many migrant workers who spent the past two decades working in cities have returned to villages where their original land has already been lost. Without land or stable income, they lack the means to sustain rural life.

“If large numbers of migrant workers remain stranded in rural areas,” he warned, “they could form a sizable floating population, which authorities fear could pose a serious threat to political stability.”

In mid-November, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs instructed local governments to prevent prolonged unemployment among migrant workers returning to their home villages. 

Yuan said that China’s security apparatus has traditionally focused on large and medium-sized cities, while rural areas have received less attention. Nevertheless, as the economy slows down, many local governments are nearing insolvency, with grassroots officials—including police—facing delayed wages and shrinking benefits, he said, adding that such conditions are fueling resentment and could be laying the groundwork for broader unrest.

Ning Haizhong contributed to this report.