Although I originally started off researching climate change in China, I changed instead to research the Social Credit System, the Tiananmen Square Protests, and activism in general. I wrote a Dystopian Short Story about the state of the Social Credit System in 2026. For art, I drew a Chinese dragon trying to do the style of spray painted art.
Thinking Skill - Perspective
History: I researched the Social Credit System in China along with the Tiananmen Square Protests. For perspective, I took a look at some interviews with people who worked in the activist groups. I also did light research on Chinese culture to better write my story. I wanted to find a good amount of perspectives on the Social Credit System and activism because that's something that is affecting China today.
LA: I wrote an apocalyptic short story about life in 2026 China if the Social Credit System got implemented everywhere within the country, and is oppressive, and I hypothesized what would happen to the people. This relates to perspective because the story is written by a member of the activist group and takes a look at the Social Credit System and how others like government officials may look at it.
Art: I created a digital art piece depicting a Chinese dragon as if done by one of the activist members from my story. This relates to perspective because it shows the art done in response to an oppressive system.
Language Arts
Dystopian Short Story
My hands shook as I rattled the can. “Cold?” Liang, my lookout, gave a glance towards me before returning his gaze out towards the streets. The old walls enclosed the narrow road of the hutong with the low roofs contrasting the dark night sky with the stark color of the concrete and bricks. “Yeah,” I lied continuing to spray the wall with the bright red. Beneath the moonlight, the colors were dulled, but under the rays of the sun, the paint would show up against the concrete surface in a vibrant display.
“Let’s hope this piece stays up longer than the last one,” I mumbled beneath the tiger mask. He hummed in response before stretching his arms yawning and leaned the back of his head against the wall trying to keep his eyes. He and I had been friends in high school, but since university split us apart we weren’t able to keep in touch as often since we were both very busy. It was out of sheer luck that our shared cause brought us together once again. Even almost two weeks in, and I still have moments of nostalgia from high school. Surprisingly, not much about him has changed, and it appears he’s just as foolhardy as he was before, if not more.
“Bai, you’re looking at me like there’s something on my face,” Liang’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. “Yeah, it’s a mask,” I quipped to which he gave a chuckle. “Anyways, you can’t go to sleep yet, Liang, justice still needs serving,” I imitated the enunciations so characteristic of Xiao’s speeches, or ramblings to some. Liang let out a chuckle, “Does he know you do that?” “Of course not. Xiao would never let me do it if he found out,” I returned my eyes towards my painting and resumed my work. The next few minutes passed in silence with the only sounds coming from the spraying of the paint and the occasional shaking of the can. Even though the circumstances of why we’re out aren’t preferred, the nights like these are always so serene and oddly calming. Of course only when you aren’t being actively chased by the secret police.
“Alright I’m done,” I stooped down capping the can, placing it into my bag. On the wall was my depiction of the classic Chinese dragon reaching out for a pearl with the Mandarin characters for freedom just to the right of it in black. The piece itself looked like a traditional painting with vibes from modern graffiti. “Nice work,” Liang commented as he taped leaflets around the graffiti as I collected my things. I gave my thanks and we set off into the night.
The hutongs of Beijing sat still in hibernation, but we still remained wary, as we made our way around the network of alleys favoring the smaller ones over the larger. “You seemed a bit… off tonight. Is uh, everything good?” Liang spoke softly and held a tone of concern. “Nothing, I was just reminiscing about our days in high school,” after those words Liang immediately brightened. “All good memories I hope?” Liang looked towards me. “Well, as good as it gets with you, which to say, isn’t very,” I smirked beneath my mask. He huffed and mocked an offended tone, “Wow, I feel very insulted right now.”
“We should probably quiet down some, since we’re getting close,” Liang nodded in agreement and we continued our walk in silence leaving us to our own thoughts. It wasn’t long after before I heard sounds coming from behind us. At first, I ignored it however the noises seemed to be trailing our movements. I looked to Liang to see if he noticed too, but he seemed to be focused on what was going on in his head. “Hey, want to see the sketch I did for the next piece?” I brought the sketchpad out and flipped it open quickly scribbling words down on the paper and handed it to him, “I think we’re being followed.” “Very cool,” he gave me a nod, and we started to take odd turns winding through the alleyways. As we turned the corner we quickly hid in the shadows, Liang crouched on the side of the street opposite to me. Moments passed in silence before a person in a black cardigan and white shirt peaked their head past the wall and started forwards with caution. The first thing that popped out was his brown hair and pale skin indicating that he was a foreigner. They wore glasses, and held a notepad and pen in their hands, so even in the shadows of the alley, they looked very studious.
Liang was first to speak and visibly startled the young man before us. His voice was calm and clear, “Tell us who you are and why you’re following us.” The person attempted to peer into the shadows, but could probably only make out Liang’s figure. The man before us regained his composure fairly quickly and responded in mostly fluent Mandarin, “My name is Michael Saxton, I’m sure you’ve heard of me. I do journalism about activist groups, and I would like to know more about your efforts.” A few moments passed in silence as we thought of what to do. The journalist cleared his throat as he stood upright and tall, oddly comfortable under our gazes.
“You do realize you could have talked with one of our affiliates instead of trailing us,” Liang remained as he was, and I could only make out the shadows of his tiger mask, “Speaking of which, how did you know where to find us?” “To answer your first question, yes, I did talk with a lot of your affiliates, but they didn’t take too kindly to me, but I understand the caution,” Michael paused, “as for knowing where to find you… well, I was just walking around, and I got lucky.” Before Liang could respond, another person in a tiger mask strolled into sight having spotted the brown-haired man before us. “Oh hey, you’re that journalist, right? We decided that we want to talk with you,” the man in the tiger mask held his hand up inspecting his nails as if there was something interesting on it. “Shun, what are you doing here?” I stepped out of the shadows and Liang followed suit. “Originally? Looking for you guys because you know how boss gets,” Shun then nodded towards Michael, “the journalist is coming with me, and you two should hurry back, so Xiao doesn’t have an aneurism.” I snorted, “Right, see you then.”
Liang and I made our way through the alleyways before coming across a rundown doorway in the hutong. The room was damp with the smell of rotten wood, and the dark splotches of mold on the walls contrasted with the white concrete beneath. Because of its state, Liang and I joke about the name of our base being the Health Hazard HQ. Yeah, this was the place we operated from, but you can’t really be picky with the risks that come with going against the government. Sitting before us, at two unkempt desks was a man and woman in street clothes, Xiao and Fan. The two seemed caught up in reading the material they had before them, but when Liang and I stepped into view Fan set her papers aside and welcomed us with a bright smile. “Xiao and I are busy, so please give us a minute if you don’t mind,” Fan ushered us back towards the entrance of the headquarters where Liang and I sat down on the concrete floor and waited, where we conversed quietly until they were finished. Once Fan gave us the signal to come back, we spoke about the information given to us from other taggers and what we had achieved during the night. Not long after, Shun returned to the base holding a group of small cards. “Spoke to the journalist, and gave him all the information that you would let through,” Shun placed the cards onto the table, “If you ever need a journalist, here’s Michael’s contact info and address.” I picked one up and read over it, “Colin Alday... it says he works as a freelance graphic designer. So this is his alias?” “Yep, he said he came to China with this fake identity. Man knows what he’s doing, and it is highly illegal,” Shun ran his fingers over the edges of the card. “Can’t be too much worse than what we’re doing,” I joked.
“So, Shun, Bai and Liang already gave us information on what the members in their districts learned and what they accomplished, so, is there anything interesting coming from yours?” Xiao had sat back down in the chair that probably felt as uncomfortable as it looked.
Shun collected his thoughts. “Not much has happened. Our people are working hard on getting the message out, and nobody has gotten caught yet, so that’s good.” “Anything else?” Xiao tapped his fingers against the old desk. Shun kept silent for a few moments before responding, “Well, there is some talk going around about whether our actions are even, uh… doing anything. And, I hate to ask this, but I’ve been wondering it too, is all of this even worth it?” Shun waved his hands around and looked towards Xiao. The silence that fell hung heavy in the air. The question was on everybody’s mind whether they liked it or not. It was pushed far back, but it still lingered, a question I didn’t know if I wanted an answer for.
Xiao nodded towards Shun, “Our efforts may not be visible, but don’t doubt the effect that we have on the people. Remember, we are fighting a system that encourages conformity and discourages any amount of skepticism,” Xiao then stood up to continue, “and even still, all dissident movements give way to uncertainty, but what makes them successful is the courage of the members to keep going. Remain steadfast and level headed because your actions aren’t for naught,” his short speech came from the heart. A different kind of silence washed over, one of contemplation and thought. “Thanks for listening to Xiao’s Ted Talk,” Shun jested. Liang and I chuckled at this while Fan refrained but held an amused smile. “Xiao does have a point though, and it’s not just us who needs to hear words of assurance. Now, I suggest to all three of you, work on getting the morale of your district higher because a setting full of negative thoughts will only breed more,” Fan and Xiao then left leaving Liang, Shun, and I to discuss our thoughts. Afterwards, I said my goodbyes and headed home for the night.
The morning came quick, quicker than I wanted it to. After doing my morning routine, I met up with my friends from work, and we prepared to open the coffee shop.
(I didn’t finish this so oof, but the plotline explains what was going to happen.)
Plotline:
Bai is preparing to open the coffee shop with her work friends, and she reads the news and something happened (but it’s biased or something in support of the government) - Bai shares her thoughts on the matter (in her mind)
One of her friends comments on Bai’s face of scrutiny and the three prepare for the first few customers
One of the customers has a score lower than 1000 (the other two girls gossip about them once they are gone - they talk about what was posted on the board) - they (maye) ask Bai about her thoughts on the matter and Bai is just like whatever (even though she really isn’t)
Work goes over quick and she leaves after a busy eight hour shift - at home she watches the TV and spends her time doing art - time passes pretty quickly until something pops up about the tiger activist group
Bai gets ready quickly and makes her way to the base and find that Xiao and Fan are already there talking about the incident with the so-called murder, not long after, Liang comes, and they discuss the incident talking about the possibilities of what will happen and they prepare to burn or hide their information
Unfortunately, the government is quick to raid the base catching them off guard - the government closes in, and Xiao tells them to escape through a hole in the wall which lead them to the completely opposite side of the street - Liang however stays back and burns the rest of the information, but loses his life in the process
Xiao, Bai, and Fan escape; Xiao sets off to the closest base in order to tell them what happened, Fan works on getting the information out to members of the district (they have to lay low in order to be safe), and Bai goes to Michael in order to get press coverage (or something idk).
Perspective in the story
The story follows the perspective of a trusted member of the activist group in China in 2026. Her perspective contrasts living under the rules of the government she is dissident of and her actions against the government. It also follows her perspective as she lives as a citizen of the oppressive Social Credit System.
Story Ideas and Background Information
These were my ideas for the story, but some things may have been changed in the story.
China in 2026
The year is 2026, and the Social Credit System has been adapted everywhere around China, affecting everyone. While first fully implemented in 2022, the system turned oppressive after two years of use. Those who support it are publically vocal about it, but those who aren’t must criticize it in person with like-minded folk. It has come under backlash by the activist group (Gucci Gucci Gucci Gucci Gucci Gucci Gand), and due to the amount of covertness in the group's actions, they couldn’t do much, but try to infiltrate them or hope for slip-ups.
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Evolution of Social Credit System (Background info for the story)
While the Chinese government decided to shoot for having all the systems implemented in 2020, they had them set in place just two years later. Each system was operated within the government of each province, so the systems were relatively the same with a few modifications. China then came under the heavy gaze of the media all around the world reporting and hypothesizing what would happen, but as the years passed and nothing particularly intriguing was happening, the interest started to wane and attention was shifted away from China however they didn’t see that the system was about to get progressively more oppressive. In 2023, Timothy Chang, a congressman elected in 2022, proposed to have each system operate solely under the government. The proposal was talked about and early in 2024 the majority of the legislative branch agreed and so in the next few months, they worked on getting it shifted towards government control. Just before 2025, they had fully converted the control of the Social Credit System from the provinces to the Chinese government and at first, there weren’t many noticeable changes, but after the incident with Pokemon Crossbow, they had subtly tightened the security and heightened the consequences for not abiding by the laws. As 2025 continued, Timothy Chang, acting in unsubstantiated fear proposed an even higher amount of security and consequence than what was initially decided upon. The rest of the government supported the action with a few members requiring some persuasion.
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Pokemon Crossbow
Pokemon Crossbow is a Pokemon fan-game collaborated upon by a large group of people all over the world, and is a “demake” of Pokemon Sword and Shield, replicating the style of Pokemon on the Gameboy Color. The fangame, to the surprise of many, was actually supported by Nintendo itself and was released worldwide in 2025. The two most notable members of the group are the Chinese hackers going by the usernames KoolDud811 and Muj456, that brought the project to infamy in China. In the Chinese version of the game, there were some hidden away files that were set to be public at release hidden by the two hackers. These files included the stolen programming of the Onion Router (Tor) with which people were able to access sites blocked by China such as Reddit, the uncensored version of Google, YouTube, and others. This was only known about by a relatively small portion of China’s population and was kept a secret for a good month, and once the government found out, the game was banned, but due to Tor’s nature, those using it were anonymous, so the Chinese Government could not track down and punish those who used it, instead settling with discreetly increasing the amount of security and consequences in the Social Credit System.
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The Epic Tiger Gang (I need to find a cool name for them) - General Information (some of the later details are outdated from the events in the actual story)
They are an activist group (or punks in the eyes of the government) fighting against the Social Credit System implemented everywhere in China. While the group is led by university students, many different kinds of people work in this group including artists, writers, hackers, historians, scientists, and general activists.
The group’s headquarters are centered somewhere in Beijing, but the group is spread out with a few smaller quarters all over China. Due to the slope into oppressive enforcement of the Social Credit System by the (fake congressperson commie), and the massacre of the Tiananmen Square Protests still relatively fresh in China’s history, they reasoned that it would be highly unlikely that a large protest would be supported. They must remain secretive as to not put activists in danger.
Disregarding the disobedience to the government, the group does lesser crimes in order to get their message out such as graffiti and (another illegal activity or something). They are respectful of those who follow the laws of the social point system, but they still attempt to spread messages about the government’s wrongdoings and oppression.
History:
The group was formed by university students in response to the more oppression social credit system that affected all of China. Originally it was a club at the university that was formed to talk about the history of China (only the things that the government allowed them to discuss), and was not very large, but after a while, they found that they agreed that the Social Credit System’s wrongdoings should be challenged, so they decided to break the club down taking it away from the university and reform it in secrecy.
The government at first were unsure who they were until there were multiple accounts of people in tiger masks near sites of graffiti or just looking shady. After linking all of those accounts with accounts of vandalising to the one group, the government coined the term (le epic name they use) to explain the cases, and when the group found out, they just took to using it which further agitated the government. Although they show their messages passively and avoid violence, one of their more well-known instances involved a member of the gang being violently attacked by an undercover cop, and the event ending with a fatality. The Chinese government twisted the original event claiming that the member of the group had started the fight and murdered someone, and because the gang had to stay out of the sight of authorities, they couldn’t risk the lives of the other members in order to help, which resulted in the affected member being unjustly sentenced for murder, and the group having to put efforts towards dispelling the slander they received from the media.
The member, while it isn’t sure if it was out of spite for the rest of the group or if they were forced to, then gave details of who they knew was working in the group, and what little they knew about how the group operated. Although the member was a tagger which meant they didn’t know about the big plans or the details of them, they were a member trusted enough to know where two of the secret bases were, one included the main headquarters in Beijing.
The outbreak of the information to the authorities caused an infiltration to be done by the secret police, and while the members expected it, they didn’t prepare quickly enough so the infiltration killed multiple activists in the process, and caused the group to become disjointed, forcing the rest of the members into hiding out of fear of being killed. The government was quick to hide the massacre from the media, and because the headquarters were hidden from public knowledge it was much easier, but that didn’t stop the journalist __((B)erson)__ from reporting on it out to the public.
The government was quick to strengthen their security, and try to slander their reputation even more, but by the time they did it, the group’s message was already spread to many, and many were made aware of the falsification of the event with the one member which started the first major wave of public awareness and support. While most members went into hiding, a few continued to spread the message by marking public areas with the small symbol of the gang to remind people that they still exist.
(idea: After the information leaks, the government had cracked down on the punishments of those involved, and for those who were found out, they had to leave the country somehow. The story is written by a university student tagger who escaped with a few others to England.
The government may try to infiltrate by hiring journalists to interview them “for an article or something” when in all reality it’s in order to get information about the group out to the authorities. I think the group should have to deal with this.
Maybe the person in the fight was higher up in the hierarchy so it would make sense for it to have a big impact on the group
Maybe the main character and others close to her are caught up and identified during the infiltration and must stay even more hidden to try and find a way out of the country as to not face a death sentence.
Maybe the group should coordinate with other groups like Anonymous or heck even the Chinese mafia (or at least what’s remaining) would be worth looking into.
By the end of the story, the main character has escaped and is writing her autobiography, dedicated to her friend - no spoilers - while in China there is a big inner turmoil that has the gas to spark an uprising - at least against the Social Credit System -
Information Hierarchy
Due to the secretive nature of the group, they have to be careful where the information goes, so they formed a hierarchy to protect the group as a whole. (possible codenames: Long = knows all the happenings involving the group and decides who the group communes with. Decides upon larger actions, and is highly respected. Ying or Qilin might be cool to add.)
Goals and Activism
Their main goal is to rid China of the Social Credit System and draw attention to the unjust nature of it and how it can be abused by the government.
Characters
Xiao - Well versed in the happenings of the group; a university student that is very supportive of justice and change within the Chinese government. A friend to (mc and mc’s friend)
Mc - A university student who is le epic. She has black hair that she pulls down into two pigtails.
Liang - Guard of sorts and/or fellow tagger (does a die)
(Probably a journalist) - Interested in the activists, unknown to them if they are working with the government (probably not, but the group is sure to be careful). Maybe the journalist bothers them enough to detail a bit about them (just enough to make an article to other countries, but not enough to show who is working with them or any of their plans, just their general ideas, and things that, the activists deem, the public is allowed to know about. (The journalist probably assures them that “they know they’ve worked with other groups before, and they understand their trepidation.” Le group has le fact checkers who can confirm the journalist’s positive influence on other activist groups.)
Social Studies
Perspective
“In many ways, the movement is not very mature, an opportunity presented itself accidentally. No one knew Hu Yaobang was going to die when he did. I’ve come into contact with people from all walks of life, they feel they have no security, many have gone overseas. I feel this country is finished, is going to die.” - Chai Ling
“We are ordering a hunger strike in order to reveal the true face of the government and the true face of the people. We want to see if the Chinese have any conscience, whether there is any hope for China.” - Chai Ling
“If the government can just stand by and watch while the students’ lives slowly waste away like this, we will have to take even more drastic measures. We will set ourselves on fire. If the government is callous enough to see these children starve to death, then I will be the first to die.” - Chai Ling
“The only criterion for a person to join the hunger strike leadership was the willingness to die so other students could live on.” - Chai Ling
Chai Ling’s Perspective
These quotes are from a 1989 interview with one of the student leaders of the Tiananmen Square Protests, Chai Ling, and at the time of the interview, she along with other students were on a hunger strike. She believed that China was hopeless, and she protested the corruption of the government, and the general state of the country, believing that change was needed. She, unlike most students, was more willing to end the protest in bloodshed because she believed only then would China see what it’s done. Her quotes give a really good perspective from someone who was an activist in China, and while they were more public in their actions than my activist group, it still gives me a good idea of why activists did what they did, and how they did it. From these quotes, I learned her take on the government and that the protests happened without too much planning beforehand.
"By the middle of May, you could go up to the square and it was filled with tens of thousands of students who were there, waiting for the government to talk to them," said Mr Edwards. "You knew something was going to give at some point. When the then Premier (Li Peng) berated the students, you knew it wasn't coded; it was a very clear warning- get out of here, or else. It was only a matter of time. There were so many of them that were just keeling over. This was in itself very clear evidence that things were starting to get pretty desperate," said Mr Edwards. "It was pretty obvious that they [the soldiers] were drugged up. They just went mad. They were shooting at everything," said Mr Edwards. [When the bullets started coming over] they made a very distinctive noise- sort of a crackling noise. There was panic, and we almost got knocked over by people going past us," said Mr Edwards. "People had to know what was going on. The Chinese Government just turned around and started doing a huge cover-up. They tried to characterise the massacre of the students as a minor counter-revolution, in which the soldiers were the victims."
Gregson Edward’s Perspective
These quotes are taken from an interview 25 years after the event, so there may very well be discrepancies in detail from when he actually witnessed it. At the time, he worked in Beijing as the media advisor for the Australian Embassy and was there to witness the government crackdown on the protests. Even with the time of the interview, the quotes still give a good perspective from a bystander during the protests and massacre, as he just happened to be there while it was occurring. This different take is more an observation of what happened than necessarily why it happened.
Also known as the June Fourth Incident or 6/6, It was a series of protests done in the Spring of 1989 in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. In the night of June 3-4, the protests culminated, and the government cracked down on the demonstrators. While the protests in Beijing had occurred all over the country, the events in Beijing are historically linked with other protests like the May Fourth Movement in 1919 and came to represent the entire event (1). There was a growing amount of sentiment between university students and others in China for reform in politics and economy, by the Spring of 1989. China had recently undergone an economic boom in growth and liberalization and many Chinese had been exposed to foreign ideas and ways of life. While the economic growth benefited many citizens, there was also large inflation of prices and opportunities for corruption of government officials (1). In the mid-1980s, the government encouraged people like scientists and intellectuals to take more politically active roles, but the student-led demonstrations which called for more rights and freedoms for individuals in the late 1986 and early 1987 caused the Chinese Communist Party and hard-liners in the government to suppress a term they coined, “bourgeois liberalism.” Hu Yaobang, who used to be the CCP general secretary since 1980 and a supporter of democratic reforms, was forced to resign due to the tougher stance (1). Hu’s death in mid-April acted as a catalyst for the events in 1989. On the day of Hu’s funeral (April 22), tens of thousands of students congregated in Tiananmen Square demanding democratic and other reforms. During the next few weeks, groups of students varying in size, later joined by other individuals seeking the same cause, gathered in the square (1). In response, the government had issued stern warnings but didn’t take action against the crowds. Other demonstrations occurred in many other cities, notably Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi’an, Changsha, and Chengdu. Most of the media coverage occurred in Beijing which drew millions of people to join forces and the event was broadcast overseas (1). While the protests were occurring, the government was debating how to deal with the situation. Some suggested negotiating and offering concessions, but this was overruled by Chinese premier Li Peng and a paramount elder statesman Deng Xiaoping who feared anarchy and had insisted that they use force to suppress the crowds (1). In Operation Yellowbird, the activists would first be rescued and brought to Hong Kong where they would be put into one of the many safe houses in the New Territories before they sought political asylum overseas. The Nai Chung camp in Sai Kung was the biggest one being able to house up to 30 people. The residents at the camp were split into groups and took turns doing chores like cooking (3). Codes were used in order to slip past Beijing’s monitoring through medical bulletins. One of the messages sent through the pagers was “Western doctor said it was heart disease” which meant that the mission was a success and the member made it safely to Hong Kong while “Chinese doctor said it was arthritis” meant that they were still waiting (3). The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, organized the operation and in order for foreign countries to approve the asylum applications, they had to have support from a local warrantor, so they wrote to churches in the US for support (3). According to the Reverend Chu-ming, the name for the Yellowbird Operation came from the Haitian folk song Yellow Bird which goes like this: You can fly away, In the sky away, You more lucky than me (3).
Art
About The Piece
My original idea was to draw a Chinese dragon in the clouds reaching out for a pearl with the Mandarin characters for "Freedom" to the right of it. I wasn't able to get the characters done or finish it to the point I felt comfortable with, but I did spend a lot of time on the dragon itself and I like how it came out.
The Process
I first tried to do a sketch of the dragon's pose, and I changed it at least twice before the final piece.
Final Piece
The background is kind of bad, but overall I think it's okay
A majority of the time was spent fixing the pose of the dragon and actually coloring it, way more than I expected. The scales also took a lot of time to draw out. I like the colors I chose for the dragon and the detail that I put into the piece. I found trouble drawing the hands and arms for the dragon, so I just left them out, but I feel if I had more time, I could make the piece way better than it is right now (and actually add the arms).
Annotated Bibliography
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Tiananmen Square Incident.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 Jan. 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Tiananmen-Square-incident. This source gave me information on the specific happenings of the Tiananmen Square Protests which helped me understand why it was done, the reactions of the government towards the protest, and the aftermath of the massacre. This was used to give me insight on what protesters did to show their activism and how the Chinese government responded, so I can better write my story on activism. J., G. “Writing on the Wall.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 4 Apr. 2014, www.economist.com/analects/2014/04/04/writing-on-the-wall. This article gave me background information on the government and people’s attitude towards graffiti along with the rules that were set in place. I learned that unlike in America or Europe, China rarely punishes graffiti artists even though it is illegal. From this article, I learned that Beijing would be a good place in China to have graffiti artists go to do their art. Kobie, Nicole. “The Complicated Truth about China's Social Credit System.” WIRED, WIRED UK, 24 Jan. 2019, www.wired.co.uk/article/china-social-credit-system-explained. This article explained exactly how the Social Credit System in China works and cleared up some myths about how it operates. With this information I was able to craft my story’s backstory in history. Lam, Jeffie. “'Operation Yellow Bird': How Tiananmen Activists Fled to Freedom through Hong Kong.” South China Morning Post, South China Morning Post, 26 May 2014, 5:30 am, www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1519578/operation- yellow-bird-activists-recall-flights-freedom-through-hong. This gave me details on how the protesters were rescued out of China along with an account of how it worked from a member who helped the people in the operation. While I may not use the same exact method in my story, it did give me an idea of what had to happen in order to have someone go to a different country and gave me more insight on what political asylum was and how it is acquired. News, VICE, director. China’s "Social Credit System" Has Caused More Than Just Public Shaming (HBO). YouTube, YouTube, 12 Dec. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkw15LkZ_Kw&feature=youtu.be. This video gave an inside look at how the Social Credit System works in China through the accounts of people who live there. It also gives a few statements from someone who works for the government by giving them information, and someone who was refused opportunities due to a low score.