If dozens of young Marxist Chinese labor protesters are "kidnapped", "hit hard and quick", and disappear, but the news is denied by the domestic media's elite... did it happen?

That is the question you have to ask yourself as the increasingly censored reality of day-to-day society in China comes face-to-face with the kind of social unrest that is Xi's greatest nightmare.

The Guardian's Benjamin Haas reports that at least 10 young Chinese labour protesters have been detained as part of a crackdown targeting a rise in student activism at elite universities across the country.

Groups of unknown men detained activists in at least five Chinese cities over the weekend, according to one labor rights group, and some were beaten before being bundled into waiting cars. One activist, Zhang Shengye, was “kidnapped” on the campus of Peking University, one of China’s top universities. It was not immediately clear what had happened to the activists who went missing in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan. “They hit him hard and quickly got Zhang under control,” one witness told AFP, requesting anonymity.

But amid a rise in student protestors hailing from the country’s top universities, authorities have worked to stifle their message of establishing unions and protecting employee rights.

“It’s ironic to see how the students who have been studying and believing in Marxism are rounded up by the Chinese authorities for supporting workers, the fundamental value of Marxism,” said Patrick Poon, a researcher at Amnesty International in Hong Kong. “The students are simply exercising their their freedom of expression and showing their solidarity to the workers. They should be immediately released.”

This is not the first time , as The Guardian reported back in August, 50 student activists backing workers seeking union rights, went missing after police raided an apartment where they had been mobilizing.

Another video recoding how the whole supporting group was taken away at 5am today! What a shame! Free all workers and students who fight for a unionizing right! pic.twitter.com/vtPTC9HIR2 — SACOM (@SACOM_HK) August 24, 2018

For now, China has been able to maintain the illusion of stability to preserve social order, but, judging from the rapid response from the editor of The Global Times, things are getting serious.

The first tweet was an outright denial that anything like social unrest is occurring...

"No student movements are occurring on China’s university campuses. Like their peers in Western countries, Chinese students are more concerned about their own development, like study abroad and career. There is no revolutionary atmosphere in Chinese society or in its universities."

No student movements are occurring on China’s university campuses. Like their peers in Western countries, Chinese students are more concerned about their own development, like study abroad and career. There is no revolutionary atmosphere in Chinese society or in its universities. — Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) November 13, 2018

But then he back-pedals, admitting that, well, maybe some students did misbehave after all...

"A select few individual students may imitate dissidents and the school will admonish them. But they are treated much more leniently than social dissidents are dealt with."

A select few individual students may imitate dissidents and the school will admonish them. But they are treated much more leniently than social dissidents are dealt with. — Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) November 13, 2018

However, should the economy decelerate further, and housing slowdown accelerate significantly (remember, 75% of Chinese household wealth is in real estate, as opposed to 28% in the US) and tens of millions in empty units suddenly hit the market, then the "working class insurrection" that China has been preparing for since 2014...

... will become an overnight reality, with dire consequences for the entire world.