The presence of foreign forces in Chinese history. Historical images. Public domain. In the aftermath of the nationwide protests against the zero-COVID policy, the Chinese government, on the one hand, pacifies the resentment by easing the PCR testing and quarantine restrictions and, on the other hand, represses protests by beefing up censorship, sending university students back home and randomly searching of mobile devices for foreign apps in the streets. On social media, the propaganda authorities also spread conspiracy theories about the presence of foreign influence to deter people from participating in and supporting the protest action. While the narratives of foreign influence had been very effective in mobilizing patriots to intimidate foreign journalists when they are covering news in China, such as the coverage of flooding in Zhengzhou last year, and harass protest supporters on social media, such as the anti-China extradition protests in Hong Kong in 2019, this time, however, the nationalistic rhetoric is reckoned as a smear campaign against Chinese people. The foreign influence conspiracy theories were widespread on all major social media platforms. One of the most widely circulated commentaries appeared on the party-controlled and most popular online news portal, the Headline News or Toutiao, on November 28. 热爱这个国家，是想办法让她变得更好，而不是配合鬼子们一起，想方设法让她“完蛋”…这两日，想必大家都有所耳闻了，多个地区出现了雷同的聚众闹事画风——欧美式的自由口号、港毒式的表达内容、年轻人被鼓动参与、不符合本地群众特征的“代表”在领队，甚至还有港台腔、洋面孔交织其中，也不乏西方“传教士”的身影。他们闹事表态的风格，是典型的颜色革命手法。 To love this country is to find ways to improve it, not to stand with the gui-zi [a debased term for calling foreigners] to bring down the country by all means…In the past two days, I think we all know about it, the pictures that looked like riots appeared in some regions — U.S-European style freedom slogans, poisonous Hong Kong style expressions, young people were incited to participate, “representatives” who did not look like locals took the lead, Hong Kong and Taiwan accents, western looking faces, shadows of western “missionaries”. The way they stirred up chaos is very typical of the colour revolution [movement for regime change]. Many pro-government influencers, such as Chairman Rabbit (Ren Yi), a Harvard Kennedy School alumnus and the third-generation descendant of Ren Zhongyi, a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party, wrote on Weibo: 上海连闹两天，接著北京。北京亮马桥，近使馆区；…2)口号是政治性的，特别是上海，很罕见；4）外电齐刷刷头条报道，关键外媒都到了现场；3）主题与乌鲁木齐相关，符合境外政治势力对新疆的想象。5）昨天发现，居然在维基的main page也是头条，还有一个很长的英文词条，都是第一时间出来的，有人策划写。6）全国还有其他地方出现，肯定是有所组织的；7）网上有图片，通过社交网站（如telegram）组织。…所以，肯定有境外势力参与，内外策应。有关部门应该在积极行动了。 Shanghai’s chaos lasted for two days, followed by Beijing. Beijing Liangmaqiao was near the embassy districts; …2) the slogans are political, in particular in Shanghai, this is rare; 3) headlines in all foreign news agencies, foreign correspondents from major outlets were in the protest spots; 4) the protests were related to Urumqi, which matched foreign forces’ imagination of Xinjiang; 5) yesterday I found out that even Wikipedia put the incident in its main page headline; the English entry of the incident is so detailed. Clearly, someone is behind it. 6) protests spread across the nation; they must be organized. 7) online images indicate that the protests were organized through social media platforms (such as telegram) … Hence, overseas forces are definitely involved. They have insiders, and related authorities should take action. In fact, even at the protest sites, the protesters were warned of the presence of foreign forces. But these claims were immediately rebutted. Below is a viral video showing how a student protester lambasted the claim about foreign influence: 北京亮马桥 有学生指出，在我们的周围有境外反华势力，导致群众群情激愤；有学生回应称“你说的境外势力，是马克思和恩格斯吗！” 学生继续询问道：“请问新疆的火是境外势力放的吗？请问贵州的大巴是境外势力推翻的吗？” 我们连网都上不到国外的！我们哪来的境外势力！我们只有境内势力不让我们聚集！ pic.twitter.com/h5F7749jPX — 黑夜中的大火炬 (@renminwansui5) November 28, 2022 In Beijing Liangmaqiao.