Ah, I lost track of what we were talking about--I need more sleep. The Chinese have been slowly learning that giving their people some choice in some areas can help, as long as the people understand that going too far brings tanks and pain. The thing is, they have a stunning amount of manpower, so if the party decides something needs to get done it's going to, one way or another. But in both countries, if the people perceive something as a threat to their way of life they'll tend to band together--because things can always get worse.