A week of widespread riots in southern China may have dampened provincial party chief Wang Yang's 'Happy Guangdong' campaign, but analysts don't expect the unrest to harm the political star's rising career.
Chaozhou's Guxiang town in eastern Guangdong and Zengcheng's Xintang town near Guangzhou are recovering from violent unrest that saw government offices besieged and vehicles destroyed, mostly by migrant workers.
The government responded with an iron fist, by arresting protestors and unleashing an unprecedented display of police strength.
Now, the challenge remains to repair not only physical property but also the damage to the region's image, particularly in the light of the happiness campaign that Wang has promoted since January.
University of Hong Kong associate professor Peter Cheung Tsan-yin, who specialises in politics and public administration, said the timing of the incidents may have poured cold water on Wang's campaign but his career remains on track.
'These incidents are classic examples of the deep-seated social tensions that have resulted from China's development model,' Cheung said. 'The problem is not unique to Guangdong; it could happen anywhere in China as long as the overall urban-integration problem shared by more than 100 million migrant workers is not properly dealt with by the central government.'