As China’s Xi Jinping Tightens Grip on Power, a Faceless Protest Grows

President Xi Jinping cut a universally admired figure as he opened a major political event to thunderous applause on Sunday. But the widely expected extension of his rule over China belies a faceless protest emerging from Beijing. On October 13, three days before the Chinese Communist Party’s twice-a-decade national congress, images of a single man demonstrating against Xi’s right to rule began circulating on Twitter. The lone protester—still unidentified—hung banners from an overpass in Beijing’s Haidian district to denounce China’s leader. “Food, not COVID tests. Reform, not Cultural Revolution. Freedom, not lockdown. Votes, not a leader. Dignity, not lies. Citizens,…