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Article: The cauldron boils; Protests in China.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 1, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A rise in mass action worries the party, prompting more intolerant measures
THE Chinese government is getting increasingly twitchy about what officials say is a rapid growth in the number and scale of public protests. In its latest bid to quash them, this week it announced a sweeping ban on internet material that incites "illegal demonstrations". Does China face serious instability? Probably not, for now at least. But in the longer term there are reasons to worry.
Quashing unrest has ever been a priority for the Communist Party. But over the past year or so it has put even more emphasis on tackling "mass incidents" as it calls the protests. These include ...