China’s ‘Angry Chopsticks’

The Los Angeles Times recently published an article by Yu Hua titled, “The Chinese Autumn Is No Arab Spring.” Yu pointed out that Mao Zedong, the former chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used the “chopsticks theory” to initiate a revolution in China. His theory greatly concerns the current Chinese regime.

The chopsticks theory looks at Chinese people as a bundle of chopsticks. Although it’s easy to snap a single chopstick, it is hard to snap a bundle of chop sticks, especially a bundle of angry chopsticks. Trying to do so could result in a revolution. Mao used this theory to goad Chinese farmers into starting a revolution. 

Yu said, there are angry chopsticks all over China, and every year there are tens of thousands of conflicts between the people and the state. According to Chinese scholars, there were 180,000 strikes and protests in China last year, which equates to an average of 493 such events per day. The amount of current unrest in China is more than three times what it was ten years ago.

Qin Yongmin, a famous democracy advocate in Wuhan City and co-founder of the Chinese Democratic Party said, “The number of people in China against human rights violations is greater than the number of officials in China. However, the CCP regime prohibits large and spontaneous gatherings, which shows how scared the CCP really is.”

Due to the regime’s fear of losing power, it spends huge sums of money on maintaining stability, which in turn makes the already angry chopsticks even angrier. 

Zhang Lifan, a Chinese constitutional scholar told Voice of America that “maintaining stability” has become an industry in China. Under the guise of maintaining stability, the military and local officials ask the central government for additional funds. Some local officials jump at the chance to crush an anticipated uprising. They want to show their superiors that they can indeed effectively govern.  

In Tunisia, a fruit hawker’s self-immolation led to the Jasmine Revolution, which swept across the Middle East as the Arab Spring Revolution. Although the CCP blocked and distorted the news related to these events—out of fear that a democratic revolution could topple the regime—many Chinese have been wondering whether the unrest throughout China could eventually lead to a “China Spring.”

Zhang Tianliang, a George Mason University professor says: “When the Chinese protest, their goal is not to put an end to the CCP regime. Rather, their protests are focused on their own special needs and interests, such as fighting against environmental pollution or the demolition of their homes and property, etc. When you fight for a particular reason, the CCP will rise up against you with an iron fist, but they will normally meet some of your needs at the same time.”

Yu Hua thinks that there are only two ways ahead for China: either democracy or revolution. Zhang Tianliang disagrees. “There’s no way that either of Yu Hua’s two speculations could happen while the CCP is still in power. No matter if people are fighting for democracy or for a revolution, the purpose is the same: to end the dictatorship. In fact, most Chinese would like to see an end to the one-party dictatorship, including CCP officials themselves.”