Content area
Full Text
ABSTRACT: China has witnessed several peaceful and successful anti-PX (para-xylene) protests in Xiamen, Dalian, and Ningbo in recent years. However, the protest in Maoming in 2014 turned out to be a noteworthy exception. By using participant observation and in-depth interview data, this article raises the following observations: first, in spite of official propaganda, Maoming citizens actually understand the environmental risk of PX production because of their personal experiences with existing pollution as well as from their knowledge of the Xiamen incident. Secondly, the Maoming protest proceeded in a less organised manner, which explains its violent tendencies. Finally, the large-scale protest was able to proceed without the support of mainstream media and the middle class due to the use of online social media and local knowledge of the urban terrain.
KEYWORDS: Maoming anti-PX protest, environmental movement, social media, protest mobilisation.
(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)
Introduction
On 30 March 2014, an anti-PX rally took place in Maoming (...), a remote city in western Guangdong Province. Beginning in the morning, tens of thousands of protestors gathered in front of City Hall, their numbers reaching a peak in the evening, at which point a violent clash occurred, lasting until the next day. Fear among the local citizens resulted in a gradual decrease in the number of protestors until the city regained its tranquillity on 7 April.
There has been a streak of anti-PX protests recently in China. Para-xylene (PX), a chemical used in the manufacture of plastic bottles and polyester, is extracted from petroleum in a process that entails environmental and health risks. As early as May 2007, the first large-scale anti-PX protest broke out in Xiamen, Fujian Province, where not only ordinary citizens but also 105 national committee members (including Zhao Yufen, a renowned professor at Xiamen University) and dozens of university presidents and academicians took to the streets to voice their opposition. Although the local government tried to censor media coverage, the event drew international attention due to the participation of elites. (1) After half year's mediation, the Fujian provincial government and Xiamen municipal government finally conceded by relocating the PX project to the Gulei Peninsula in Zhangzhou on 16 December 2007. Since then, there has been a demonstrable effect of the Xiamen movement...