Name: China Wrestles With Protests, Discontent Amid a Slowing Economy | WSJ
Uploaded: 2022-08-17T16:18:02.000Z
Duration: 4 min 37 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

(protester leader speaking in foreign language)

(protesters speaking in foreign language)

- [Narrator] Imagine if your bank accounts

where economic woes have pushed people to the streets,

and some people online, like homeowners who are threatening

until developers clear construction delays

amid COVID lockdowns and supply chain issues.

These protests highlight specific troubles

So here's what's happening and how the authorities

In China, there's been no room for political protests

of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement since 2019.

But the protests this summer are different.

- This shows the recent pattern mass protest in China

'cause people have immediate issues to address

- [Narrator] Tai Zixue is an associate professor

who's been studying social activism in China for 20 years.

He says protestors can't target the ruling communist party

but the scenarios we have seen are different.

has been the country's real estate sector.

Collectively, urban Chinese have nearly 78% of their wealth

because developers don't have enough money

to finish building apartments they've pre-sold.

The blue line shows the number of housing projects

cause some of them to default on their debt.

Add on top of that, the slowing economy and COVID lockdowns

which fell nearly 40% in July compared to last year.

As a result, many developers have had less cash

have joined a movement that's been gathering steam

These are hundreds of joint letters issued by homeowners

for more than 100 cities across the country.

that they'll stop their mortgage payments

until developers finish and hand over the apartments.

The mortgage revolt left authority scrambling

to reassure home buyers that projects will be completed.

Some local governments rolled out tax rebates, cash rewards,

and lower down payments to boost their property markets.

You have to make a very loud voice to get heard.

that's triggered loud complaints, thanks.

In the city of Zhengzhou, protestors vented their anger

at rural lenders for freezing their accounts.

This comes amid a government investigation

into financial misconduct by a private investment group.

- Their immediate deal is to get their money back.

They're not asking anything more than that.

when a group of unidentified men in white T-shirts

The Wall Street Journal couldn't determine their identity

and neither the bank nor the local government

The incident went viral on Chinese social media

and got the attention of the authorities.

and made concessions to appease demonstrators

with two rounds of repayments to depositors.

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China Wrestles With Protests, Discontent Amid a Slowing Economy | WSJ

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