China Boils Over! Millions of Workers Rise Up Nationwide: Pay Our Hard-Earned Wages!

Workers at Jiangyang Cable in Yangzhou Jiangsu Province recently staged a collective protest after repeated deductions from their wages. Videos show large numbers of workers in blue uniforms gathering inside a workshop, marching through the factory compound and then heading towards the administration building. Screenshots of group chat circulating online show one worker saying 2,000 yuan was deducted from September's pay and another 2,000 yuan from October's, leaving just 2,500 yuan in take-home pay. The worker said they even had to use other money to cover the mortgage. Others said wages were deducted without any prior consultation or explanation. On November 3, an online user posted a video saying that some drivers near the second residential area in Xin'an Town, Haiyang Shandong Province, had stopped working because their pay was long overdue. Dozens of workers gathered at the Xue'an Mingzhu Housing Project in Xixian New Area, Shaanxi Province, on November 2 to demand unpaid wages. They said a company affiliated with China National Chemical Engineering had undertaken the project, but their wages remained unsettled after a full year. A closer look shows this was no ordinary housing development. The Xi'an municipal government previously described it as a key Xixian resettlement project intended to ensure displaced residents could move back into their homes. The site covers about 12 acres with 1,118 planned housing units, and all buildings had been topped out by 2025. One blogger pointed out the contradiction. This is a major public welfare project meant to secure homes for relocated residents. Yet the people who built those homes are still chasing their hard-earned wages. Their housing may be protected, but who is protecting the workers' pay? On October 26, dozens of construction workers gathered outside the villa of a senior executive of Langguang Group in the eastern section of Jingguanchen New Town, Wuhou District, Chengdu, Sichuan Province. They surrounded the entrance and demanded that he come out and settle their unpaid wages. It was their second action in a month. On October 12, workers had briefly detained two people responsible for the unpaid wages. As China's economy remains weak, wages protests of varying sizes have been breaking out frequently across the mainland, affecting a range of industries. According to Freedom House, China recorded 948 protest incidents in the third quarter of 2026, an increase from the previous quarter. Unpaid wages were a major trigger and workers accounted for 44% of those taking part in protests. Freedom House cautioned that although recorded protests fell 33% from a year earlier in the third quarter, tighter online censorship by the authorities may have contributed to the decline. The figures do not necessarily mean there were fewer protests in reality. In February 2026, China's cyberspace regulator ordered social media platforms to remove or limit the reach of content authorities considered to be maliciously stirring up negative emotions. Freedom House's preliminary analysis found that protest-related posts on Douyin in the second quarter of 2026 fell by about 50% compared with the same period a year before the crackdown began. The report found that construction sites accounted for 52.8% of workers' protests in the third quarter of 2026. Among construction site protests, 38.1% involved state-owned enterprises, including 43 separate entities under 15 state-owned corporate groups. China State Construction Engineering Corporation, or CSCEC, Was the state-owned construction company most frequently targeted by protests in 2026 with 85 incidents recorded? It previously took on projects for financially troubled developers including Sunac, Wanda and Evergrande. Protests over unpaid wages at construction sites continued even after the third quarter ended. A video circulating online October 6 showed large numbers of workers at the Shijingyuan Project of China Construction's 6th Engineering Division in Langfang Hebei Province. With their wages unpaid, they laid bedding on the floor of the project office and stay there demanding a solution. On October 14th, several workers at a China Construction's 7th Engineering Division site in Henan province also went to demand their unpaid wages. One worker lay in front of an office building in protest. Another said, They've owed us the money we worked so hard for years, but nobody is holding those responsible accountable. On October 28th, In Handan, Hebei Province, protesters parked a vehicle displaying the words pay back what you owe outside the entrance to the project office for the Hanma Connecting Line run by China Railway No. 3 Engineering Group over unpaid debts. On October 29th, an online user in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, posted a video accusing the Hulunbuir Army Border Defense Engineering Project of seriously delaying wages owed to migrant construction workers. The project covers frontline border construction in areas including New Barag Left Banner and New Barag Right Banner. It has been undertaken by China Construction's 6th Engineering Division since 2020. Workers said the construction had been completed long ago, but the wages they earned through years of hard work had been withheld for as long as six years. They had approached multiple parties repeatedly during those six years, yet still had not been paid. On October 21, in Yingkou, Liaoning province, several workers involved in a marine ecological restoration project publicly filed complaints under their real names. They said the contractor, China Construction Harbor and Channel Engineering Bureau, had withheld their wages for five months. Despite repeatedly raising the issue, they said the relevant managers kept passing responsibility to one another, leaving the problem unresolved. With no other option, the workers made their complaints publicly under their real names, hoping that people would share their posts and help bring about a resolution. On October 28, several protesters drove vehicles to block the entrance to the project office at Phase 1 of the Guangzhou Baiyun New Energy Storage Industrial Park, undertaken by China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group over unpaid construction bills. The person who posted the account said all the project's buildings had been topped out, but the construction payments still had not been made. After more than 20 years of rapid growth, China's property industry has remained in a slump in recent years, leaving unfinished developments scattered across the country. Freedom House believes developers and contractors are facing cash shortages, with financial pressure passing down through the chain of construction payments. As a result, some workers are not paid on time. Multiple layers of subcontracting also spread responsibility for paying wages across different companies, making it harder for workers to recover what they are owed. On November 3rd, a woman in Inner Mongolia posted a video accusing China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering's second company of withholding her wages. She said she was driven away when she brought her child to demand payment. One commenter noted that PetroChina reports profits worth tens of billions of yuan in its annual statements, yet a worker has to take her child to the company just to ask for her paycheck. The money never seems to be missing from the accounts. The commenter said, what's missing is the money owed to ordinary people. Blogger Daniel Fung wrote that construction companies across mainland China, including state-owned firms, are increasingly giving up. Wages protests involving subsidiaries of China's state construction group are common, he said. The work gets done, but the workers don't get paid. Wu Xiaoping, head of the Overseas Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Alliance, said, Most construction workers are rural migrants living in cities and belong to one of society's most marginalized groups. They do the toughest, dirtiest, and most exhausting jobs, but their pay is relatively low. One blogger said that large debts owed by governments to businesses are among the reason wages disputes have become so frequent. A CCP government report issued in 2025 estimated that businesses were owed more than 10 trillion yuan, about 1.4 trillion US dollars, by governments equivalent to roughly 8% of GDP. About 4.5 trillion yuan, about 630 billion US dollars, of that amount. was already overdue. A person involved in investment and financing in central China said private companies trying to recover debts are often pressured to accept settlements of about 75 cents on the dollar or even less. Financial difficulties in manufacturing are also fueling labor disputes. According to Freedom House, factory protests accounted for 24.5% of workers' protest incidents in the third quarter of 2026, with particularly high concentrations in coastal provinces including Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Fujian. On October 8, workers at Fenchen Salt Chemical Factory in Fen County, Xuzhou, Jiangsu province went together to the company to demand their rights. They discovered their access cards had been disabled, preventing them from entering the plant. Large numbers of police then arrived to maintain stability and demanded that workers delete videos they had posted on Douyin. Earlier on September 28, Funchun Salt Chemical Factory had announced a production shutdown and employee leave. It said industry conditions and the company's operating situation meant operations would stop on October 1, with a return to work date to be announced separately in writing. Workers believed the factory was effectively on the brink of closure and that the measure was designed to buy time and avoid paying compensation. They demanded a clear compensation plan. On October 12, hundreds of workers and factory owners from the Electroplating Upgrading and Environmental Protection Industrial Park in Zhaoqing Guangdong Province gathered at the Jingli Town Government Office. They demanded resolution of compensation following a fire and pain. Payment of overdue wages. On October 20th, employees of Tianyang Nanhua Paper in Baishu Guangxi gathered outside the factory to protest chanting slogans such as protect our interests and we want compensation. On October 28th, large numbers of workers from Zhongjian Magnesia Brick Company in Dashiqiao Yingkou Liaoning Province gathered outside the municipal government building to demand overdue wages. Large numbers of regular and special police officers were at the scene to maintain stability. News of employees demanding unpaid wages at Wannai Electric Appliance in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province drew attention online on November 4, according to The company was founded in 1995, occupies roughly 540,000 square feet and mainly manufactures household appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines. On November 3rd, workers at a factory in Yangchun, Jiangsu province associated with FAW staged a collective protest over unpaid wages. Footage showed large crowd gathering at the factory entrance. Many people in the comments shared their own experiences of missing paychecks. I haven't been paid for five months. I don't even feel like working anymore, one said. Another wrote, we've only been paid through April and even that was less than we were owed. One person added, and even more startlingly account, it's been 15 months for us. People used to compare who earned more. Now they're comparing who has gone the longest without being paid. Behind the manufacturing sector's unpaid wages is The factories in Guangzhou are all going under. Bosses are disappearing one after another, and factories are closing one after another. What's going on? The blogger explained that bosses are fleeing because they don't have enough money to pay wages. The main problem is that clothing factories now receive no upfront deposits. He described being excited about a potential order from Japan. After a full morning of negotiations, both sides were happy with the terms. But in the end, the customer offered not a single cent as a deposit. on an order worth 1 million yuan. The factory would have to advance more than 900,000 yuan itself. Once production was finished, the buyer would inspect the goods, take the entire order if it passed inspection, and pay only 45 days later. He said this is how orders are handled now. After China's October 1st holiday break ended this year, many people wrote on social media that their employers had closed down or the owners had simply disappeared without warning. Some factories were completely emptied during the holiday, leaving only scraps and trash behind. Workers were caught off guard, owed several months of wages, and left with nowhere to turn for payment. It's closed, look. This is Fujian. It's shut down. Look, this is around Fujian. The factories have all closed. And the bosses have all run away. Look, other people are still working over there. But this one's closed. They even called our trucks in to haul away the goods. And we still can't get everything out. That's the end of it. Zhexing Precision Hardware in Shenzhen, Guangdong province appeared to have closed on October 21st. Many employees in blue work uniforms gathered inside the workshop in an open area of the factory compound. One online commenter joked, looks like they can take the annual leave now. Over the past two months, wages protests in many parts of China have been widely exposed online, including disputes at telecommunication firms, media organizations, and civil service exam and preparation companies. On October 20th, employees protested outside a China Unicom office in Changsha, Hunan province. They wore red vests bearing the words, China Unicom, pay us back and pay our wages. On October 22nd, employees of a subsidiary of Yueyang Daily Media Group in Hunan province complained that the company had entered bankruptcy liquidation in November 2025. It negotiated the termination of employment contracts with three employees, but still had not paid a combined 50,000 yuan in unpaid wages and severance compensation. On October 29, an online user posted a video saying that staff at the Yaoshan Scenic Area in Pingdingshan, Henan Province had gone on strike. The attraction could not open normally, its shuttle buses stopped running and large numbers of tourists were unable to enter. Videos from the scene showed the entrance to the scenic area had been blocked, leaving numerous visitors stranded outside. One visitor said the attraction had made no advance announcement that it would be closed, so everyone had made the trip for nothing. According to the person who posted the video and people at the scene, the strike was triggered by unpaid staff wages. Another commenter said workers had already gone on strike several times over unpaid wages. On October 11th and 12th, more than 100 workers at the Central Vegetable Market of Raising Agricultural Development Company in Helan County, Yinchuan, Ningxia went on strike for two consecutive days. By marching and blocking entrances, they successfully recovered two months of unpaid wages. On November 2nd, multiple employees at Chongqing Jiangjing Hotel laid down or sat in the hotel's corridors and outside its entrance to protest unpaid wages. On October 21st, in Lingui District, Guilin, Guangxi, workers owed wages by Xingling Urban Investment displayed a banner outside the company's entrance. It read, You're refusing to pay what you owe with no regard of other people's lives. The workers also accuse a company of deliberately sitting back and doing nothing to resolve its debts. Xingling Urban Investment is a local state-owned urban investment financing company. Industry insiders described China's local government financing vehicles as a black hole in the financial system. For years, local governments used these companies as intermediaries to borrow money they could not conveniently borrow themselves, and banks were willing to lend. The Chinese Communist Party pushed massive infrastructure construction for years, generating impressive GDP figures but leaving local governments buried in debt. Chinese financial institutions compiled annual reports from thousands of local government's financing vehicles and calculated their combined interest-bearing liabilities at roughly 68 trillion yuan, about 9.5 trillion US dollars. The International Monetary Fund estimated that by the end of 2025, the broader debts of these financing vehicles had swollen to 71.4 trillion yuan, about 10 trillion US dollars. The Chinese Communist Party authorities have promoted debt restructuring in recent years, but this has only reduced interest pressure and extended repayment periods. Several billion yuan in debt principal has not been reduced. In August 2025, Chinese Communist Party authorities issued a directive requiring all local government financing platforms to fully exit their existing roles and complete their transformation by the end of June 2027. That means the local financing systems, which began in Shanghai in 1992, is being phased out nationwide. The old model of borrowing for infrastructure projects with government credit backing has reached its end. Recently, local government financing companies in many places have run into financial problems or collapsed. These companies are tied to a wide range of industries from construction and material supply to engineering design. One of the founders of the China Democracy Party, Zhu Youfu, said economic hardship has created chains of unpaid debts. With nowhere to turn to have their grievances addressed, many people have been forced to protest. Zhu Youfu said the economy is a complete mess now. Small and medium-sized business owners are trapped in chains of unpaid debts, so they can't pay wages. Workers are pushed beyond what they can endure, and they resort to all kinds of ways to defend their rights. Yet labor protection laws aren't being enforced, and government departments aren't doing their jobs. On July 28th this year, well-known Chinese media commentator Zhu Wenqiang revealed in a social media post that Liu Quan, a migrant worker from Tangshan born in 1990, had endured prolonged and deliberate non-payment of wages. After every legal attempt to recover his pay failed, his family fell into desperate circumstances. He detonated a homemade explosive device at the Labor Inspection Brigade in Chao Fen Dian district, Tangshan. On April 8th, 2025, several people were injured, including Liu himself, labor inspection staff, and police officers. Liu was sentenced to six years in prison at his first trial. The article drew nearly 10,000 replies and widespread discussion. It was later deleted, large numbers of related articles were taken down, and online discussions of the case were blocked. Both Zhu Wenqiang's public WeChat account and his Weibo account were suspended. Earlier this year, a lawyer in Shanxi posted a video online describing a case in which a migrant worker, unable to recover just over 1,000 yuan in unpaid wages, killed his employer and the employer's entire family. Some online commenters Condemned employers who withhold migrant workers' hard-earned pay. Others expressed sympathy for the employer, arguing that poor economic conditions might have left him waiting for overdue construction payments himself. Human rights lawyer Wu Xiaoping said workers face high costs when defending their rights and lack of independent unions, making it difficult to stand up to employers. Employers often have influential social connections and political backing. Which they can use to violate workers' rights. As a result, he said, these workers have become one of the most severely oppressed groups, both within China's political system and in society at large. Wu Xiaoping compared Chinese society today to a pressure cooker with no safety valve. The economic downturn has made jobs harder to find. People's wealth is disappearing. Education is expensive and medical costs are rising year after year. With no systematic and fair way to relieve those pressure, the Chinese Communist Party is also suppressing free speech and public expression of dissatisfaction. He said, there is nowhere for these pressure to go and serious social conflict is bound to erupt. On October 31st, a person who said he was still employed went to the Lingyuan Tianji headquarters of OffCN Education in Guangxi to demand unpaid wages. He said his pay for August, September and October had not arrived. After speaking to the head of human resources, he was told his August wages would not be paid until the end of December. The employee asked to be paid by the end of November. The answer he received was simply impossible. Online commenters mocked the irony. An institution that teaches people how to pass civil service exams and secure government jobs cannot even tell its own employees when their wages will arrive. On the evening of September 12, the Huangshi Olympic Sports Center in Hubei Province was brightly lit as Taiwanese singer Angela Chang opened the Huangshi Stop for her player concert tour with the song Fable. Tens of thousands of fans erupted in excitement, but behind the show, a scandal emerged. Large numbers of workers who had helped build the stage were collectively demanding wages they had not received. Videos circulating on social media platform X showed large numbers of workers striking at the Huangshi Olympic Sports Center Stadium on September 13th because they had not been paid. I'm We worked on Angela Chang's concert and didn't get paid. starting Four or five shows and still no money. Come on, get this on Douyin. Workers said they had not been paid for at least four concerts. The company responsible for withholding the wages was, of course, to speak the mainland Chinese contractor hired to build the stage. Protests among China's working class labourers are spreading. now. In recent years, wage disputes have extended into public institutions within the Chinese Communist Party system, including schools where even teachers have begun demanding overdue pay. On November 2nd, parents at Wendao Senior High School in Hualai, Hebei province, went to the school to protest. They said wages owed to teachers and cafeteria workers had not been paid, preventing students from attending classes normally. Further investigation found that when the school opened in 2023, it advertised its access to educational resources in Beijing and regular lectures by professors from Peking and Tsinghua universities. Its 2024 enrollment brochure even promised that teachers would live on campus around the clock with upscale food and accommodations. Now there are reports that the cafeteria has stopped operating and large numbers of students have gone home. On October 26, teachers at a public school in Dunhua, Tangshan, Hebei province gathered outside the Dunhua Education Bureau to demand unpaid wages, blocking its entrance. Large numbers of police officers arrived to maintain stability. Recently, medical workers across China have expressed anger and frustration on social media over hospitals withholding wages. Some have gone more than six months without being paid, not even receiving their basic salaries. Many asked, how are we supposed to survive like this? In February this year, Beijing Rai'an Technology, a company affiliated with China's Ministry of Public Security, was exposed for withholding wages for two years. More than 300 workers demanding their pay were threatened by the company with suspension of their social insurance contributions. An online submission to a non-state outlet said that staff holding public institution positions in Zhongyuan District Zhengzhou, Henan Province, had petitioned the National Public Complaint and Proposals Administration. They said the district party committee and government had withheld performance-based salaries and policy-related bonuses since 2022, affecting thousands of employees throughout the district. A former founder of a non-profit organization in Ai Shichen said the communist party's economic and fiscal crisis are spreading and growing more severe. The suppression of private businesses and the withdrawal of foreign investment have sharply reduced the government's tax sources and tax base draining public finances. That is why even institutions within the political system are now withholding wages, he said. Ai Shichen believes that as the economy continues to deteriorate, the wave of wage protests and other demonstrations across China will intensify. Australia-based scholar Yuan Hongbing said fiscal and unemployment crises are two defining signs of China's economic crisis. With the economic downturn becoming irreversible, the deepening fiscal and employment problems signal that a major social crisis is approaching. Yuan Hongping said China's public protests in recent years have had three main characteristics. First, both their number and geographic reach are expanding. They have spread from cities to rural areas, from online spaces into everyday life, and from economic grievances to broader social issues. They are surging everywhere, he said, calling this one of the basic signs that the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian rule is nearing its end. Second, Yuan said public protests are expressing a deeper sense of despair. He said Chinese people are not afraid of hardship. What they fear is having no hope. Xi Jinping's destructive policies have driven the whole society to despair. It's not just unemployment migrant workers, college graduates who are jobless as soon as they graduate, veterans who find themselves unemployed as soon as they leave the military. Independent intellectuals and private business owners are all living in despair. The third characteristic is that public protests are becoming increasingly political, with anger and hatred directed personally at Xi Jinping becoming more and more pronounced. Yuan Hongbing said Xi Jinping wants to become a communist emperor and take Chinese society back to the era of Mao Zedong. Internationally, Xi's aggressive wolf warrior diplomacy is repeatedly pushing China towards the brink of war. Yuan said Xi's political and economic policies have now caused an almost irreversible economic decline, turning him into a public enemy in the eyes of the Chinese people.