It started with a small protest over a twofold increase in bus fares in a village nestled in the hills of central China and escalated into a bloody clash between 20,000 farmers and police armed with batons.
The melee in Zhushan this past week reportedly left one dead, dozens wounded and led to a police lock-down on the village.
It would likely have gone unreported under the Chinese Communist Party's tight grip on information, except that Zhang Zilin (
The 22-year-old art teacher-turned-civil rights activist got a phone call from an irate villager. He hopped on a public bus from his home in the provincial capital for the two-hour ride, and once in the village, tirelessly worked the phones, bringing reporters and other activists up to speed on the details.
"Our role in the Zhushan case and other cases is to report the truth and reveal it to the public," Zhang said on Thursday, after being warned by police against talking to the media.
Zhang is part of a burgeoning breed of activists. The movement is known as rights defense or weiquan in Chinese.
"We are now in the period of a social transition from an autocratic system to a democratic system," said Ai Xiaoming (
"Some local government officials don't know how to make the adjustment," she said. "Some have suppressed the people's protests in a forcible manner and even restricted the coverage of the media."
"Therefore, in some areas, we are seeing antagonism between the local people and the local governments," she said.
Instances of ordinary citizens being galvanized into action are on the rise -- with the aid of activists. In two heated disputes in two separate villages -- one over land compensations in Dongzhou, another to oust corrupt officials in Taishi -- civil rights campaigners and lawyers advised villagers of their legal options.
In Zhushan, Zhang was an outspoken witness, describing indiscriminate beatings by officers carrying batons and steel rods and the anger of the mob as they burned police cars and chanted: "Beat to death government dogs!"
A day later, Zhang says he was taken to dinner by provincial security agents and government officials, who warned him against talking to reporters.
Zhang remains unfazed, in part because he's not alone. He's part of the China Pan-Blue Alliance, a Web-based rights organization that claims 2,000 members.
Scattered across the country, its members recruit new activists to contribute to the cause of "promoting China's democratic process and pushing forward human rights," Zhang said.
Unlike activists in the 1980s who demanded political reform from the central government, "wei quan" focuses on issues the government often acknowledges are problems: AIDS prevention, urban redevelopment, rigged elections and environmental protection.
"This is completely different," said Li Jian (
"Political activists only focus on their own political interests," said Li, who began his activism four years ago.
"We don't do our job for any purpose other than to help people protect themselves," Li said.
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