Before carrying out the protest, Peng Lifai had published a strategic guide for strikes and boycotts on ResearchGate. This 20-chapter document, spanning 21 pages excluding the cover and table of contents, summarized Peng's personal political ideas and served as an explanation of his actions. Read English summary <a href="https://chinachange.org/2022/10/19/bridge-man-peng-zaizhous-mission-impossible-and-his-toolkit-for-the-removal-of-xi-jinping/">here</a>. The first chapter, "Strategy for Protesting Against National Traitors," explains that the purpose of strikes and boycotts is to oppose Xi Jinping's unconstitutional re-election and to push China toward democracy, freedom, and prosperity. It also outlines the methods of protest, including decentralization in the early stages, organizing communities and universities into networks, and using information and non-violent means to spread the message rapidly. Proposed methods of protest include honking car horns, strikes, boycotts, hanging banners, distributing leaflets, burning tires, and setting up roadblocks. In the second chapter, "Opposing Xi," Peng Lifai wrote a humorous poem. The third chapter, "A Letter to Fellow Countrymen," enumerates the regressions in Chinese society under Xi Jinping's rule, drawing connections to China's history of power transitions, uprisings, and political changes. He criticizes the oppressive nature of the "zero-COVID" policy and calls for resistance from various groups, including soldiers, police, party members, the media, unemployed and bankrupt individuals, entrepreneurs, civil servants, university students, and intellectuals. Peng emphasizes the need for soldiers, police, armed police, and government officials to receive the protest message, hoping for leaders like General Cai E from the Republic of China era, who opposed Yuan Shikai’s imperial ambitions, to rise and help remove the dictator. He writes, "Fellow countrymen, we are the masters of the People's Republic of China. If we remain silent, we will all become slaves to the dictator. For the right to vote, for fairness and justice, for freedom and democracy, for ourselves and our future generations, let us embark on a new national defense movement." The fourth chapter, "Long Live the Ballot Song," calls for national elections for people's representatives and officials. It includes a cartoon designed by Peng, turning a nucleic acid testing booth into a polling station, with the caption: "We’ve been pretending to vote for three years. Just place a ballot box at the testing site." The fifth chapter, "Who Are We," lists China's marginalized groups, including migrant workers, lower-class citizens, flexible workers, unemployed graduates, education sector employees, low-income populations, small businesses, and left-behind children. It concludes with Peng’s statement: "We need to be our own masters. We don’t need to live in a cage." Chapters six and seven discuss Peng’s vision for a Chinese Communist Party Free Election Committee and a National People’s Election Committee, along with the constitutional and party statute bases for these political concepts. Chapter eight provides an explanation of the relationship between government, state, and citizens. Peng compares the relationship between citizens and the state/government to that of property owners and property management companies. He writes, "I do not owe gratitude to the property management company, because I am the owner who pays the property fee. I am its master, and it is my servant." Subsequent chapters describe Peng’s vision for a new government and its key policy demands, including ending mandatory nucleic acid testing, implementing "Charter 08" (a manifesto supported by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo), reducing taxes, and reforming state-owned enterprises. He concludes by quoting imprisoned lawyer Xu Zhiyong’s "Letter to Xi Jinping," once again expressing opposition to Xi’s re-appointment as leader. In the copyright statement, he encourages readers to share the guide widely.

During the three years of the "zero-COVID" policy enforced by Xi Jinping's government, the daily life and freedoms of the people were severely limited. A fire in Urumqi, Xinjiang, finally ignited public dissatisfaction with the measures. On November 26, 2022, when the people of Shanghai spontaneously gathered in the streets to mourn the victims of the fire, no one expected that this memorial activity would lead to nationwide protests against the pandemic policies. At the scene, Chen Pinlin and his girlfriend, Wang, filmed many protest videos at the protest site on Urumqi Middle Road in Shanghai. In November 2023, on the anniversary of the White Paper Movement, Chen Pinlin uploaded the documentary to YouTube and other social media platforms, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. Less than a week later, he and his girlfriend were arrested. His girlfriend was released on bail, while Chen Pinlin remained in custody. <a href=“https://tenchu.org/pocd/public/pocs/3551”>Chen Pinlin introduced the documentary as follows</a>: "I am the director Plato. In November 2022, I personally participated in the protest on the night of November 26 in Shanghai. This was my first involvement in a political event in China, and it was also the first time I expressed my political demands in China. Besides the footage I personally filmed on that day, the film also includes iconic video materials from before and after the protest. I tried to present a complete picture of how the dynamic zero-COVID policy pushed China to the boiling point and prompted people to take to the streets to protest. After the event, the Chinese government distorted the facts and maliciously smeared the protests in Shanghai and the White Paper movement, misleading many people into thinking that the protests were the work of foreign forces. But is this really the case? On the first anniversary of the Shanghai Urumqi Road protest, I created this documentary, “Urumqi Middle Road”, to record my personal experience and feelings of participating in the protest. I want to explore why, when internal contradictions appear in China, foreign forces are always blamed? Everyone knows the answer. The more the government misleads, forgets, and shields the truth, the more we must speak out, remind people, and remember. Remember the White Paper, remember November 26, remember Urumqi Middle Road, remember the Xinjiang fire, remember the Guizhou bus, remember dynamic zero-COVID, remember the 'big white' (the white-suited workers), remember Tiananmen, remember the Cultural Revolution, remember the Three Years of Great Famine. "By remembering the ugliness, we can turn our hearts toward the light. I also hope that China can soon embrace its own brighter future." At the end of this movie, Chen left this narration: Some people say, what is the point of protesting on the streets? In the end, it's still the same, suppressed, shielded and misinterpreted. But as Churchill said, ‘Courage is the most important human trait, with courage, other human traits can naturally be possessed' We lacked experience and have been cowardly and wavering, but today we have the courage to stand up and to speak out. What we lacked this time, we can do better next time. If I were to do it again, I would still choose to be there. Because a government that is afraid of even a white paper can't defeat the justice in the hearts of the people. On January 5, 2024, Chen Pinlin was formally arrested on suspicion of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and detained at Baoshan District Detention Center in Shanghai. On January 6, 2025, Chen Pinlin’s first trial was held in the Third Court of Baoshan District Court, where he was sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison. His sentence will end on May 27, 2027.

In the spring of 2022, a wave of COVID-19 exploded in Shanghai. Under the policy of “Zero COVID,” 24 million residents were put under forced lockdown. Filmmakers and reporters used their phones, televisions, the internet, and other materials to capture scenes of lockdown and disputes between officials and civilians in Shanghai. Producers of this short film titled <i>The Memo</i> believe that it is necessary to record this historic episode in order to prevent our memories from fading away. The production team, which was founded in 2020, strives to create works about the lower classes of Chinese society. <i>The Memo</i> was nominated for the Clermont-Féron Short Film Festival.

Published on January, 2022, “Ten Days in Xi’an” is a log of Chinese independent journalist Jiang Xue’s daily experiences under COVID-19 lockdown, posted onto WeChat’s social media platform. In this piece, Jiang depicts the crises and challenges faced by Xi’an residents under lockdown, such as the lack of access to medical resources. “Ten Days in Xi’an” was viewed by millions of Chinese users on social media platforms when it was posted, and received comments and support from thousands of Chinese citizens. It was later translated into English by Andréa Worden and published on Probe International virtually. You can find the translated article in the PDF below, or through this link: <https://journal.probeinternational.org/2022/08/22/ten-days-in-xian/>.

This collection of diary entries by Wuhan-based filmmaker and activist Ai Xiaoming showcases her life during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, from February to March 2020. In these diary entries, Ai shares the daily challenges which many Chinese people grappled with, as well as their hopes and questions for the government and Chinese society at large. Her diary also examines problems regarding the expanding powers of the Chinese government. The first entry of Ai’s diary was published in English by the New Left Review, which can be found here: https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii122/articles/xiaoming-ai-wuhan-diary.

This book is a collection of diary entries written in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic by Fang Fang, a Chinese writer and advocate of the working poor in China. In these diary entries, Fang Fang documents the various daily difficulties faced by her and other Wuhan residents from January to March 2020. In this book, she also ponders the implications of official policies with regard to the pandemic and the way in which the public and the government have responded to the outbreak of COVID-19. These entries tell us about the hopes and fears of the people of Wuhan during the early stage of COVID-19, and adds to our understanding of public opinion and government policies in China in the 2020s. The diaries were published in Chinese, and have also been translated by Michael Berry into English and published by Harper Collins Publishers. You can purchase the English version of the book using <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/wuhan-diary-fang-fangmichael-berry?variant=40153409749026">this link</a> .

These three issues published by "Xiaoniao Literature" explore the experiences, emotions, and hardships of Shanghai residents during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2022. From poetry and photography to opinion and satirical pieces, various writers bring to life the 2022 Shanghai lockdowns for the rest of the world.  "Xiaoniao Literature" publishes twelve issues with over 300 pieces in total per year. Its content includes short novels, opinion pieces, and poetry.  Click [here](https://www.bumingbai.net/2022/06/ep-004-yi-xianfeng-yang-ying/) for an interview by *Bumingbai Podcast* with Yi Xianfeng and Yang Ying, co-founders of *Xiaoniao Literature*.

Zhang Zhan, born in 1983, is a Chinese lawyer and a dissident of the Communist Party system. In early February 2020, she rushed from Shanghai to Wuhan, which was under lockdown due to the COVID-19 epidemic, to conduct on-the-spot interviews and released a series of video reports on Wuhan's lockdown. More than three months later, she was arrested by Chinese police for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and taken to Shanghai for detention. In December 2020, she was sentenced to four years in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. Zhang Zhan went on hunger strike in the detention center and prison, and there were reports that he was critically ill several times. Her courage and resistance attracted the attention of the international community. The book *Free Zhang Zhan* was edited and created by Wang Jianhong, the head of the "Zhang Zhan Concern Group" on the Internet. It brings together Zhang Zhan's articles and self-media posts published on the Internet, as well as interviews of Zhang Zhan before she lost her freedom, and interviews, as well as poems and articles from outsiders supporting Zhang Zhan. The book reviews the course of Zhang Zhan's case, Zhang Zhan's struggle in prison and the repercussions it aroused at home and abroad. It was published on May 13, 2024 when Zhang Zhan was released from prison after serving her sentence. This book preserves and records the history of Wuhan's lockdown in China due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Nowadays, Zhang Zhan's articles and words of support for her have been censored and blocked in China, which makes the book even more precious.