Experts warn against social conflicts in China (2)

Mass incidents, which involve a group of people staging a protest, are taking on new features, said Chen Guangjin, vice director of the CASS sociological research center, when he briefed reporters on the blue book on Tuesday.

"China used to see far more mass incidents in the less-developed central and western regions than in the east, but the eastern regions are now witnessing more such incidents compared with the past," Chen said.

"Many of the mass incidents nowadays tend to last for a longer time and are conducted on a larger scale," Chen said.

Salary disputes have caused more than 120 strikes with no less than 100 participants each in the country in the first eight months of this year, figures from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions show.

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