Zhou Li showed up at the gate of Wuxi New District's labor department holding a red banner, a move generally considered to be a show of gratitude and respect for the government or its organizations.

But to people's surprise, his banner read, "Not serving the people" which was a peaceful protest against the labor department for not resolving the dispute he had with the company that hired him in 2006.

He worked as a software engineer at the company, which had him work overtime without compensation for a long time. He quit the job in July 2008 and filed a suit with Wuxi New District's labor department seeking overtime pay, but the dispute is still unresolved despite his case being taken to court 14 times during the past two years.