Recently, there have been a series of retaliatory incidents, group conflicts, suicides, and public safety accidents in various parts of mainland China. Due to the deletion of related videos and messages on social media platforms in China, more and more netizens have turned to X platform, Telegram groups, and overseas self-media to publish news, attempting to bypass the censorship of the Chinese Communist Party. Some interviewees mentioned that in recent years, the CCP has been continuously deleting posts and banning accounts, but more and more people are directly posting information on overseas platforms. The more the official blocks, the faster the information spreads.
After the “May 1st” holiday, a large number of videos of sudden incidents within China started to appear on the X platform. Some of the uploaded videos were quickly spread, but they disappeared soon on platforms like Weibo, Douyin, and Bilibili, and many related news stories are now unsearchable.
In recent days, videos and messages of sudden incidents from various places in China have been appearing on overseas social media platforms. On May 3rd, a car plowed into a crowd on Linzhuang Street in Pingyang County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang. Multiple videos show several people lying on the ground, and chaos at the scene. Some netizens claimed that a man indiscriminately hit people with his car, resulting in 12 deaths and multiple injuries. Up to now, the CCP has not released a complete report, and related search terms have been blocked on the mainland network.
Wang Zhouxiang, a retired person living in Europe, told reporters, “My son in the country told me that many schools and hospitals are withholding wages. Because of fines, people are jumping off buildings, there are incidents where workers burned factories down because they couldn’t get paid, and so on. These things are happening everywhere, one after another. They (the authorities) keep blocking, deleting posts, and banning accounts. Netizens also have tricks; they send the information to overseas anti-Communist netizens for reposting, making it difficult for the police to track.”
On the same day, a video from the streets of Sichuan also gained attention on overseas platforms. In the footage, a man working outside was sitting on the ground, crying and repeatedly saying, “I really have no money, not even a penny.” People were watching nearby, but no one approached.
A user on the X platform commented, “There’s no trace left within the country; you can only climb the wall to preserve the scene.”
Subsequently, a video surfaced from Guanqian Street in Gusu District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, where a young man was cosplaying Zhang Jiao, the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion from the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He shouted in the street, “The blue sky has died, the yellow sky should stand, the year is in the Ji-zi, great luck in the world. Poor Dao Zhang Jiao, please Han men go to their deaths, Lei Gong help me!”
On May 4th, an explosion occurred at a firecracker factory in Liuyang, Hunan. The initial information was first disseminated to overseas platforms by mainland netizens. The circulating videos showed continuous explosions and thick smoke rising at the scene. It was later confirmed that the accident resulted in over 80 casualties, but the official report was brief and did not disclose details of the explosion. Only after the incident escalated did the state media begin to report on it.
Earlier on May 3rd, videos of the car ramming incident in Linzhuang Street, Pingyang County, Wenzhou, also spread widely on overseas platforms. The videos showed several pedestrians lying on the road, with a large crowd gathering at the scene.
Chinese scholar Yao Nong told reporters that there are many unemployed young people now and the situation of middle-aged unemployment is even more severe, but official media rarely allow open discussions on the true unemployment situation. He said, “Many people repost these videos online to vent their dissatisfaction. However, the authorities do not even allow such voices to appear. When people are under emotional pressure for a long time, problems are bound to arise sooner or later. The more messages they block, the more people transmit. Some people do these things to draw attention to themselves. However, I also oppose solving problems by harming others.”
On May 5th, news emerged from Longquanyi West River Street in Longquan, Chengdu, Sichuan, where a 15-year-old high school girl was suspected of being drugged and sexually assaulted by an official after being given to the official by the principal. The girl later fell to her death from the 34th floor.
Related chat records, on-site videos, and exposés continued to spread on overseas platforms, but mainland social media platforms are no longer searchable. A netizen commented on X, “There are news in the country now, but news is not allowed.”
Internet activist Liu Qing, speaking under a pseudonym, mentioned during an interview that in recent years, China has become more frequent in blocking websites, banning accounts, and restricting VPNs, indicating that the authorities are now very sensitive to public opinion.
He said, “What the CCP fears most now is the spread of group emotions. As long as it may trigger anger, panic, or start discussions on real issues, they will quickly delete it. They also worry about the emergence of incidents like the White Paper Movement among the people again.”
Liu Qing stated that many Chinese netizens have developed a habit of making “overseas backups” in recent years. Whenever accidents happen, they immediately send the videos to the X platform, Telegram channels, or overseas bloggers’ email.
In recent years, content such as “Xianzhong events”, random acts of violence, car ramming incidents, live-streamed suicides, etc., in mainland China have continuously increased, but official reports from the CCP have become more simplified, with some cases no longer disclosing specific casualties. Meanwhile, the censorship efforts on Weibo hot searches, short video platforms, and local media have also been continuously strengthened.