by Yan Chungou

Faced with the dozens of people run over out of ‘revenge’ in Zhuhai and the multiplication of similar incidents, the Beijing government is calling for ‘in-depth investigations’ into the disputes involving families, neighbours, and missing wages. Former Red Guard writer Yan Chunguo: ‘Social unrest is the result of a State that has lost the idea of justice, making the people lose their soul’.

A fortnight ago in Zhuhai, a man's act of running over dozens of people in a van and killing them because of disagreements over his divorce case caused a stir. This was not an isolated drama: many voices in the People's Republic of China tell of the multiplication of this type of outburst of violence. So much so that the Chinese Communist Party itself has publicly expressed concern. On the instructions of President Xi Jinping, the Ministry of Justice in recent days urged local mediators to carry out ‘thorough investigations’ into disputes involving family, neighbourhood, land and wages. But what is really behind these exploding tensions? This was asked by the Chinese intellectual Yan Chungou (also known as Ngan Shun-kau), originally from Fujian, former Red Guard who fled to Hong Kong in the late 1970s and now lives in Canada. On his Facebook profile in the last few hours he has published this reflection, which we re-publish in our translation.

An internet user calculated that from 20 May to 16 November this year, there were 20 cases of indiscriminate killings in China, including: 35 deaths and 43 injuries in Zhuhai, 11 deaths and 13 injuries in Taian, 8 deaths and 5 injuries in Changsha.

The last two cases include an accident on 21 November in Foshan, Guangdong province, where a bus driver indiscriminately ran over people, with witnesses estimating at least 50 dead and injured; also, in Hunan province, a truck ran over people without exact numbers being released yet, but videos show an apocalyptic landscape with many bodies and severely injured people.

Accidents caused by private cars have a limited impact, but when buses or heavy trucks are involved, the situation turns into an inferno. As for attacks in villages against officials and policemen, as there is no media coverage, it is impossible to estimate a precise number of victims.

In recent years in China, suicides among the population have steadily increased: people throwing themselves off bridges or buildings, young people gathering in remote mountains to commit suicide together.

These phenomena of despair have become increasingly common. Since last year, incidents of indiscriminate car homicides have become a new fashion, with the perpetrators seemingly no longer having any moral limits: the more victims there are, the more social damage they cause, the greater the disruptive effect, so the more valuable the act of killing seems to be.

Many are questioning the causes of these social tragedies: people's lives reaching a hopeless point, families and careers ruined by injustice, suffering without any possibility of redemption, all these things can explain the accidents. I believe, however, that there is also a deep cause linked to systemic and structural factors. Popular anger in China is growing rapidly, and society is like gunpowder just waiting for a spark.

One deep-seated reason is that the state has lost its justice. What is the justice of a state? A state exists to seek the happiness of its citizens, to guide the nation towards a path of common prosperity, equality and freedom.

Without this purpose, the state has no meaning. But today's China is a tool in the hands of a small group of corrupt Communist Party members, who exploit and oppress the people, who are forced to solve the Party's problems, while the Party does not solve the people's problems.

The State has lost the meaning that justified its existence: the People's Republic of China has always been a private property of the Communist Party. The wealth of China does not belong to the Chinese, and the people have no right to intervene in governance.

The subordinate relationship that should exist between the state and the people has been reversed: the state is no longer a state and the people are no longer a free people.

The second profound reason is that the government has lost its capacity. Government has the task of effectively managing the nation, directing economic development, improving the quality of life and opening wider horizons.

But when the government creates problems and is unable to solve them, politics and the economy continually deteriorate, internal and external problems pile up, and in the end, all the difficulties fall on the people, who live in increasingly unsustainable conditions.

Recent measures to save the real estate sector and the stock market have failed, consumption stimulation is weak, investment is out of control, foreign trade is in trouble, and the diplomacy and military situation is full of obstacles.

At the same time, ‘zero COVID’ policies are increasingly ineffective, the fight against corruption seems to have only fuelled even more corruption, and social stability policies are becoming less and less stable.

The Communist Party's predicament is all-round, long-term, and entrenched, and Xi Jinping is powerless in the face of internal and external difficulties. Popular anger has no outlet, the conflict between the government and the people is increasing, and while the talk of stability and prosperity continues, the government is running towards a dead end.

The third profound reason is social unrest, which is the inevitable consequence of the state's loss of justice and the government's loss of capacity. The normal functioning of a society is based on traditional logic, laws and social awareness as the moral basis, self-regulation by the government, trust among citizens, well-defined hierarchies, and a consensus between the government and the people. But this traditional order quickly collapsed due to the damage caused by the Communist Party.

Social disorder is not something that happens in a day, but is a process that slowly erodes society. The leaders have no scruples, and those lower down imitate them. The people are seen as just a tool to be exploited.

The endurance of the people has reached a breaking point, and when it can no longer be endured, a way out is sought.

The way out for the people is to no longer be submissive, to no longer be slaves, and to fight against the social order to save their lives, because anger and resentment cannot be appeased. Breaking the social order is not only a matter of self-interest, but also an act of ‘mutual ruin’.

The fourth profound reason is that the people have lost their soul. A nation with a thousand-year-old cultural tradition should also have a positive system of ideas. But the spiritual essence of China is a fusion of Marxist-Leninist ideas with Chinese imperialist thinking, created by Mao Zedong, a ‘four-legged monster’ that makes no sense in the context of the 21st century.

Marxist-Leninist ideology is no longer applicable, capitalism is not viable, universal values cannot be expressed, feudalism cannot be restored, and the soul of the Chinese is now broken and fragmented.

The reason the people have lost their soul is that China is isolated from the rest of the world, separated from the currents of contemporary ideas, and the Communist Party maintains control of thought to preserve its absolute power.

At the beginning of the reforms, capitalist ideology was widespread, but as the economy improved, the Party tightened its ideological control, preventing any liberation of thought. Since Xi Jinping came to power, control has increased to a maximum, social stabilisation has weakened the spirituality of the Chinese people day by day.

The loss of the people's soul has led to the disappearance of any spiritual quest and shared values. Among the people, nothing remains but the pursuit of pleasure and material advantage, and natural humanity, in the face of a cruel system, is consumed and suppressed, leading brutality to prevail over human civilisation.

The state has lost its justice, the government has lost its capacity, society has lost its order, and the people have lost their soul. China is currently in a state of unprecedented disintegration.

From the foundations of society, a visible process of disintegration is underway. History cannot be reversed, and humanity cannot reverse the course of things. Indiscriminate murders are only the expression of individual frustration, but from here to a global social crisis, the distance is not long.

Those with a minimum understanding of reality already see the end, and the Communist Party does. But in the end, no matter whether we see it or not, the result is bound to manifest itself.