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Civil society in contemporary China presents a perplexing paradox. Despite the brutal suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen uprising, social contention and associational activism swelled over the ensuing years. One might have expected the ruthless June Fourth repression of the massive student movement to have deterred subsequent dissent, but in fact the frequency of protest has steadily escalated in the past 25 years. Moreover, China today is host to countless grassroots (as well as government-sponsored) nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), foundations, and charities—not to mention a vibrant sphere of online public debate. In contrast to 1989, a nascent civil society can now be said to exist. Nowhere is this organizing and societal engagement more evident than among college students. There are, however, few signs of another student-led “democracy movement” looming on the horizon. Instead, university campuses in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) these days form a critical component of an apparently effective web of support and stability for the existing political system. The scope and spread of protest in post-1989 China have been impressive. The early 1990s witnessed a wave of violent tax riots by farmers complaining of “unfair burdens.” When the central government responded to the rural unrest with a historic decision to abolish China’s centuriesold agricultural tax, the locus of protest shifted from the countryside back to the cities. In the late 1990s, the privatization and bankruptcy of many state enterprises prompted laid-off and retired workers to lodge petitions and stage sit-ins at factories and government offices in opposition to plant closures and paltry pensions. In the 2000s, as the negative side effects of rapid economic reform became increasingly visible, environmental pollution sparked “not-in-mybackyard” rallies among a growing middle class anxious to protect its newly acquired property and its health. State-sanctioned infrastructure development and commercial real estate projects ignited angry remonstrations by displaced residents. Labor disputes erupted with calls for higher wages and better working conditions. Migrant workers demanded that their children be permitted to sit for university entrance examinations in the cities where their parents labored. And yet, amid the explosion of protest activity by seemingly all manner of aggrieved citizens, China’s university campuses have remained remarkably quiet.

Citizen Contention and Campus Calm: The Paradox of Chinese Civil Society