As dawn breaks over Beijing's ancient Gate of Eternal Stability, a large crowd gathers in its shadow, in an alleyway just inside the old city walls.
The scene, however, is anything but stable. Those gathered there are from the country's downtrodden, people with grievances against the government who have made their way to the capital to petition China's modern-day mandarins.
When the crowd spots a foreign journalist, many rush forward waving their petition documents and shouting their grievances: “My daughter was murdered and the police did nothing,” says Yan Zizhan, a petitioner from Henan province. “I was beaten up by officials from the family planning department because I wouldn't have sex with one of them,” says Liu Zhongwei, from Shandong province.