With Strikes, China's New Middle Class Vents Anger

"Before, we really didn't have any way to make complaints, and without the strike the government wouldn't have given in," Tang said in an interview.

Even as government officials publicly praised the taxi drivers for their candor, they were hunting for organizers and trying to detect connections between Chongqing and other protests across the country.

Shin said that he had saved a copy of the leaflet in his car, without thinking about it, and that the police had found it. A few days after the strike, he said, officers brought him in for questioning and demanded he tell them who had written the leaflet.

Shin, 40, said he told them he had found the leaflet on the ground and had no idea who was behind it.

Shin's story is typical. He worked at a state-owned heating company until it shut down 17 years ago and has been a taxi driver since. He says that he and his wife, who works at a gas station, make "enough, just enough," but that these days, they are working more hours -- often more than 10 each day -- for the same pay they got for working eight hours in the past.

Drivers in Chongqing said they were discussing a possible second strike -- although no new leaflets have appeared. One of the things that the Communist Party promised after the protest was to work with the taxi companies to set up a pension and health-insurance system. The details, however, are still pending and some drivers are worried that it won't happen.

These days, said Shin, who was impressed by Bo's leadership in ending the strike, "I trust the government . . . but I don't yet trust the taxi companies."

Researchers Crissie Ding and Wu Meng in Shanghai contributed to this report.