Protesters wearing masks take to the streets to appeal for people to join them for an upcoming protest in Hong Kong October 9, 2011. (Reuters/Tyrone Siu)
The movement that has gripped America’s financial district, protests made to the financial establishment in the West, has also taken hold on the Chinese Internet.
Occupy Wall Street (占领华尔街) were protests that began in New York’s banking center on September 17, which then spread to other cities around the United States. .
China’s own intellectual circles began to buzz about the protests in United States and beyond in late September.
On Utopia (乌有邦), a leftist nationalist forum, an entire post appeared under the headline “In Support of the Great Wall Street Revolution.”
There was soon an English translation, most notably on the China Study Group, an English website dedicated to leftist China. The translated letter of solidarity, posted on October 1, was signed by over 50 intellectuals and activists in China.
The activists range from academics at universities to ex-Red Guards, and from publishing house editors to organizers of Red Song groups.
In part the petition read: “The eruption of the “Wall Street Revolution” is a historical indicator that the popular democratic revolution that will soon sweep the world is set to begin. It is an especially significant and important event for this movement. Before this most recent action, street protests had virtually been exclusively used as a tool by US elite groups to subvert other countries.”
美国“华尔街革命”的爆发，是即将席卷全球的世界大众民主革命进入高潮的历史性标志，对世界大众民主革命具有特别重要的意义和作用。此前，街头革命几乎成为美国精英集团颠覆其它国家的专利工具
Apart from the petition, Utopia also uploaded pictures from an Occupy Wall Street inspired street protest in Zhengzhou, the seat of Henan Province.
On Sina Weibo, Occupy Wall Street had become a trending topic by Monday.
Wang Xiaoshan, a journalist and activist with more than 333,000 followers on Weibo, tends to focus his posts on social injustices. His comment on the event was sarcastic, but elated at the buzz it was creating on the Internet.
“Occupy Wall Street is great. I was out for a couple days and didn’t notice it, or thought it was a big deal. But now I am happy to the extreme. Ha ha. As someone who hates everything to do with government, I only hope that no lives will be lost. I don’t care about anything else. The more chaotic this gets the happier I am. It’s fun seeing all you Internet trolls so riled up.”
占领华尔街这事，实在太好了，在外面，前几天没太注意，没当回事，现在开心得不得了，哈哈。作为讨厌一切政府的人，只希望不出人命，其他无所谓，越热闹越开心。看到左粪右粪都茫然了，好玩。
Peking University professor and digital media expert Hu Yong has been re-posting pictures from the Occupy Wall Street since the movement began. Examples here and here .
3 responses to “Occupy Wall Street Creates a Buzz in China”
TO usa president:
this is the problem of political system,so,how can you deal with it by
yourself? you should learn the government of china ,finally,GOOD LUCK!
Yes, there are definitely things to improve in the society.
The societies which allow protestors to assemble and speak of their grievances should have an advantage of adjusting and changing over the societies which will try to silence dissent.
After all, in the example of the U.S.’s society, the intent is for the government to serve the people, not for the people to serve the government.
This financial problem has been a long time in the making and is hitting the societies at the same time as the post WW2 population spike begins to retire. The financial picture in the world will get worse before it gets better.
The sad truth is that, as of now, the people that are really beaten down (such as inner city populations where unemployment has risen to as much as 50%) have not connected (and may be unable to) to this spontaneous and unfocused movement. The protestors are ones who still feel they have upward mobility chances, have an education, and see the disparity between themselves and the fat cats of Wall Street. The Unions have also begun to support the protests. If the same people who are now protesting still had jobs, then the Wall Street Robber Barons would still be stealing, swindling, and embezzling; and no one would say a word. Except those who play the stock, commodity, and hedge fund casinos and have lost money. But those people are not occupying Wall Street. They believe in capitalism with all it corrupting principles, and so they just grumble. So the really poor, the really dispossessed, the really disenfranchised are still out in the cold.