Cloudy in Beijing Blogging about my time in China

A protest?

I wish. Although it kind of was.

Yesterday I was walking near one of the entrances of the college that I work at. At the front gate I noticed a throng of people, maybe around 60 or 70, mainly middle-aged.

My first thought was that maybe some little spectacle just happened. Chinese people like to gather and watch whenever something public happens. Once near my apartment I watched as a few dozen people surrounded a family that was loudly arguing among themselves. In Shanghai, I saw a group of people crowd around a drunken man, who had keeled over and was being lifted by his friend.

This, however, seemed different. As I joined the throng of people, I heard few words from the those near me, and sensed that they were tensely waiting for something. On the other side of the gate, was a group of school security officers, huddled together, but happily chatting. One officer carried a camera.

Then I heard some words that immediately revealed something to me. "They haven't released them yet," someone kept saying. "They haven't released them."

Was someone being held prisoner?

I asked a man next to me what was happening and found out, indeed, something intense was unfolding.

Apparently, the people I was standing amongst had all bought apartments from a business that worked at the school. They had signed the contract for them, but they were upset the business was guaranteeing them certain rights and benefits. They came here today to express their discontent.

The large gathering outside the school's front gate had early on brought the police, resulting in small scuffle. But things had subsided and representatives from the dissatisfied apartment tenants were now speaking with the business.

"It probably won't result in anything," the man I was speaking too said. "But we do this first, then we will get a lawyer."

After waiting for maybe twenty minutes, the gathering of people then dispersed, their leaders looking frustrated as they left from the school gates. Their leaders had been "released."

The event wasn't too action-packed. Reminded me a bit of my days as a reporter and covering city meetings, where residents would protest against some development project. But this was China, so the event had far more interest, even as little happened.

I've been hoping to see a protest in this country. They happen by the tens of thousands each year all across China. Yet no one but the foreign press covers them. And the local Chinese government often will use force to quell public displays of dissent. Hopefully I'll see a more bona-fide one, and have a camera the next time.

One thing I did notice was even though China has improved dramatically in these past 6 months, I still couldn't totally understand all the details behind why these people were upset with their apartments. It seems I need to study more vocabulary related to real estate and law.