RAND : Chinese Government Responses to Rising Social Unrest

By Murray Scot Tanner

The Ministry of Public Security (MPS) reports that the number of “mass incidents” (e.g. various forms ofprotest) has skyrocketed from about 8,700 in 1993, to 32,000 in 1999, to about 50,000 in2002, and surpassing 58,000 in 2003. Especially noteworthyhas been the steady rate of increase: protest incidents have apparently increased everyyear since 1993 (although 2001 data are unavailable), and in no year did they increase byless than 9 percent.

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