Xi Broke the Social Contract That Helped China Prosper https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/01/opinion/china-covid-protests.html
Yes, there were stresses and overreach: Authorities cracking down on pool halls, net bars, etc., shutting down stores and street vendors. Corruption was rampant, and people in power routinely used their authority to squash business competitors or evade punishment by the law.
(This isn't to say that there weren't plenty of attempts by local authorities to control, but such regulations were usually broken with absolute impunity. The classic example are university rules that students had to be back in their dorms by 9 every night. The standard response? "F**k this!" They would break doors so they couldn't be locked and break windows if they had to. And no one was ever punished for this.)
@John_Scotus I just have to ask, how are you so familiar with the inner workings of China? Have you lived there?
@see_the_sus 14 years. Wrote books about it even.
@John_Scotus Awesome!
Where are you living now?
@see_the_sus Japan.
@John_Scotus Oh well now I know three people living over there. I met a couple of cool fellas over on the bird. One is a professor from England, another is a photographer from Ireland. Both have lived in Tokyo for a long time.
And these stresses and overreach sometimes caused localized protests that were sometime quite serious, with police cars set on fire, etc.