Because China is not a democracy it can become a boiling pot of anger and resentment at the ruling elite that can't be alleviated by popular vote.
The party and government attempt to reduce the boil to a low simmer but if they don't get it just right the perverse effects of compelled beliefs and the possibility of preference falsification leading to out-of-control preference cascades* do keep Xi and the cadres on their toes.
As we said April 11:
In theory the deficit country has a game-theoretic advantage but in this case that advantage would be reduced by American bloodsport domestic politics and by the fact President Xi has pretty much fashioned an autocracy in China.
First up, the story that took me by surprise, as much because it involves one of China's showcase manufacturing success stories, as because it appeared at all, from China Labour Bulletin, April 17:
BYD Workers Lead Mass Strikes to Challenge Wage Cuts and Broken Promises
In a dramatic show of collective action, thousands of workers at BYD’s factories in Wuxi and Chengdu walked off the job in late March and early April 2025, protesting steep pay cuts and deteriorating working conditions. The unrest erupted in the wake of BYD’s 2023 acquisition of Jabil Inc.’s Green Point factories, marking the electric vehicle giant’s strategic entry into the mobile electronics manufacturing sector. The strikes reflect a broader, ongoing labour conflict within BYD, following a similar large-scale protest at its Wuxi plant in May 2024, highlighting systemic labour issues within the company.
The first major protest began on March 28, 2025, when more than a thousand workers— many of them mid-level managers—protested inside BYD’s Wuxi factory. Brandishing banners and raising their voices, they demanded the company honour its previous promises or provide fair compensation for those choosing to resign. Their grievances centred on recent cuts to performance-based wages and the elimination of birthday subsidies, benefits that many had come to rely on. Videos circulating online captured the tense atmosphere, as police quickly intervened to contain the unrest.
Just days later, the spirit of resistance spread to BYD’s Chengdu facility, where workers staged similar protests from March 31 to April 1. There, employees accused management of breaking promises made during the Jabil acquisition transition. Their demands were clear: job security, transparency around workplace changes, and fair compensation. Workers in Chengdu were especially frustrated by reduced working hours, forced department transfers, and slashes in allowances and bonuses....
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Next up, also from the CLB:
Strike Map
971 Incident in the last six months
Most recent incident 01 May 2025 Workers protest wage arrears owed by an agricultural company in Dingxi, Gansu
....MUCH MORE, it's interactive so they tell you how it works:
An introduction to China Labour Bulletin’s Strike Map
And from China Digital Times, May Day, 2025:
State Media Reminds Workers that Labor Rights Are “Granted” by the Party
A series of state-media reports on the theme of the May 1 International Workers Day provide a window into the CCP’s perception of labor rights in China. This week, China Daily published a series of quotes by Xi Jinping to bolster the claim that he “has consistently praised the contributions of workers and emphasized the protection of their rights and interests.” The main story on the first two pages of the People’s Daily on Tuesday drew heavily from a speech delivered by Xi at an official gathering to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the All-China Federation of Unions. Manoj Kewalramani at Tracking People’s Daily highlighted important parts of the speech, much of which praised the CCP’s achievements in advancing labor rights, but some which emphasized the dominance of the CCP over China’s labor movement and trade unions:....
For the last few months I've been thinking of the social pathologies of life under communism and what, if any, lessons can be taken from the experiences of the east bloc.
Among the characteristics of those societies was the gaslighting (straight-up lying to you) of the people by the government and the elites. On first encounter one might wonder why the nomenklatura would risk their reputations by saying things that were demonstrably false?
That question misses the point. They weren't trying to convince anyone. Gaslighting is a power move, very popular among sexual and psychological abusers. It says "I can lie to you and you can't stop me." And then it goes further and says "I can make you say the same things."
There are other social pathologies, the snitches, tattletales and such trying to exert power or curry favor.
There is the general air of accepting unreality, exemplified by the old Soviet joke:
"We pretend to work, they pretend to pay us."
And many more, but for now, Vaclav Havel, a writer who went on to be Czechoslovakia's last president and after overseeing the split of the two countries, Czechia's first president. Here is an excerpt from his essay "The Power of the Powerless"....
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The underlying thesis is that in societies where people don't feel safe expressing themselves they will have, but not exhibit, their political preferences. This can lead to preference cascades ripping through a society, when through subtle signaling or even osmosis, individual learn they are not alone and feel freer and freer to express themselves.
It is the political version of Hemingway's dialogue on the money problems of one of the characters in The Sun Also Rises:“How Did You Go Bankrupt?”This is supposed to be the reason the American CIA was caught flat-footed by the rapidity of the collapse of the Soviet empire and Eastern European communist governments, exemplified by the Berlin Wall coming down.
“Two Ways. Gradually and Then Suddenly.”I don't know if this is the case, I'll have to read the book.
From the Harvard University Press:
Private Truths, Public LiesThe Social Consequences of Preference Falsification
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