As some dub China's protests "the white paper revolution," experts say the blank pieces of paper held up by demonstrators send a clear message to Beijing's leaders - no words necessary.
Wanting to send a message to China's government, protesters in cities across the country held up blank sheets of paper.
There was no text or symbols, no pictures on the pages — just empty white rectangles, meant as a metaphor for China's censorship of dissent.
For Teng Biao, the meaning was clear.
"People can read behind the blank paper. The anger, the dissatisfaction, and the desire for democracy and freedom. Everything is already there," Teng, a Chinese human rights activist, lawyer and academic living in exile in the U.S., told CBC News.
The protests, which began Friday, were rooted in a push to lift the country's COVID-19 lockdown measures. Nearly three years into the pandemic, China remains wedded to its strict "zero-COVID" policy, with entire buildings and even neighbourhoods often locked down in the event of infection, and millions of people being tested for coronavirus daily.
But some have blamed those restrictions for firefighters' inability to rescue 10 people from a deadly fire in the northwest city of Urumqi the previous night, saying some of the building's doorways and exits had been sealed off as part of lockdown measures. That set off this latest wave of anger.
The movement, however, quickly grew into a call for greater political rights: freedom of speech, democratic reforms and even the ouster of Chinese President Xi Jinping, in an unprecedented challenge to his leadership.
Some observers have dubbed the protesters — and the sheets of white paper they hold up — the "white paper revolution" or "A4 revolution," in reference to the letterhead's size.
Though their revolt is highly unlikely to upend China's political establishment, experts say the protesters are nonetheless sending an extraordinary signal to the ruling Communist Party — without saying a word.
"In effect, they're saying something without saying anything," said Dave Clark, a professor of political science at Binghamton University in New York, who runs a project tracking global protests.
