In a democracy, the public has the authority to decide (directly or otherwise) legislation before the fact. This is a bit like discussing as a group what to hav

In a democracy, the public has the authority to decide (directly or otherwise) legislation before the fact. This is a bit like discussing as a group what to have for dinner. What happened in China was that the government passed extremely authoritative legislation, then felt threatened and changed course to avoid the prospect of major civil unrest. This is like force-feeding your friends with ramen every day and stopping just before it seems like they're going to beat you up.