Control is the mantra with which the Chinese Communist Party governs its people, and during his presidency Xi Jinping has restored its central role in society.
Unprecedented levels of surveillance and a neighbor-watch-thy-neighbor system are some of the methods used to maintain order among the 1.4 billion population. But a spate of random acts of violence is challenging the party-knows-best narrative.
The Communist Party is paramount in China and is enmeshed within every organ of government. Its legitimacy after 75 years in power depends on continued economic growth. But the recent downturn has hit millions of young job-seekers hard and has rippled through the workforce. There’s no way of knowing whether economic reasons were behind the most dramatic of several recent tragedies that have shocked the nation, but commentary on Chinese social media has linked the violence to worries over social stability.
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