At a demonstration, Wednesday in the capital of South Korea, over 100 people, including dozens of Chinese students, demanded an end to China’s zero-COVID policy and denounced the nation’s authoritarian political system. This was the most recent international display of support for the protests that have erupted across mainland China.
The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party as they gathered on the street in Seoul’s Hongdae district, holding posters that read “Dictator out” and “Free China.”
Others demanded the freedom of speech and the right to vote while holding blank white pieces of paper, which have become a symbol of protest against Chinese government censorship.
The protests in China, which started as a regional pushback to draconian influenza restrictions but swiftly expanded into the nation’s largest overall display of public discontent in decades, have drawn support from over a dozen cities across the world.
Several dozen of the demonstrators in Seoul were South Korean citizens, but the majority of the crowd looked to speak Mandarin, including many people from mainland China.
Most of the chanting changed to just Chinese as the demonstration grew throughout the night.
Zhang, a 25-year-old student from Beijing, told VOA that she was inspired by the protest culture she had seen in Seoul but that she worried about persecution or punishment from Chinese authorities if they learned she had attended the event.
“When I initially arrived in Korea as an exchange student, I was shocked to see individuals publicly criticizing [previous South Korean President] Moon Jae-government. in’s
When I unexpectedly came upon these pictures of Korea, my perspective shifted, said Zhang.
When there is a social issue, protesting is, in my opinion, only normal, she said.
Every year, tens of thousands of young people from mainland of China attend colleges in South Korea.
After many South Korean students showed their support for pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong, the Chinese students periodically make news for their ferocious nationalism in defence of the Chinese regime.
This dynamic makes it all the more remarkable that some Chinese students, if not in large numbers, stood alongside Korean students on Wednesday as they denounced Beijing.
A mainland Chinese woman who was present at the Seoul meeting expressed that she shares everyone else’s amazement at the recent happenings.
“We heard slogans asking for the [Chinese] leadership to resign [from protesters in mainland China]. The woman, who did not provide her name, stated, “I did not even think it was conceivable for these types of comments to come out of someone’s lips.
Now that there are indications that the protests in China are waning, she
is doing everything she can to maintain the momentum abroad.
We ought to work harder both domestically and internationally, she declared. “South Korea likewise won democracy by making individual sacrifices. We consider this to be the start.
