I’m not using people’s death as political cudgel. I’m Chinese and I have friends who attended these protests and I’m genuinely scared for their life. The news articles have to use “unverified videos on social media” because no “official” news outlet in China would ever publish any real story about the protests. My friends and I who have been sharing the videos taken by people who were at the protest are getting shadow banned, some got their entire profiles wiped out, and we’ve lost contact with two. The US government might be using this all as political ploy, but how does this make Chinese people’s demand for freedom and end of authoritarian rule any less valid?? Sure, for some people they just want their lives to go back to pre-Covid, but for others they are finally opening their eyes to the atrocities that the Communist Party has committed and finally had enough to be not afraid and speak for themselves. I realize how Covid has negatively impacted Asian Americans, but this is a separate fight. The Chinese people is finally rising up and calling for change, and I genuinely hope the call for freedom and rights could be supported.

There are protests everywhere in China right now, and people are holding vigils for the people who died in the fire. The fire was just the last straw. There was the riot by factory workers who were forced to lock down in the factory, people committing suicide because they just couldn’t survive mentally or financially, pregnant women bleeding out outside the hospital because they were denied treatment. There were protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan. It might be hard to believe that not all Chinese people are part of a hive mind, and there are people who are willing to stand up and protest even though they know they might end up dead. Please at least show a bit of empathy for the people who died in the fire.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/shanghai-hit-by-covid-protests-anger-spreads-across-china-2022-11-27/