Humans can break with a particular level of suffering, and once they break, the government will collapse.
I was wondering if chinese might revolt against corruption, brutality and inhumane treatment. Then I remembered much of china's history is defined by one corrupt and inhumane ruling regime or another. Chinese rulers have a long and brutal history of punishing lawbreakers and dissidents using the most painful, unusual and barbaric methods they could devise. This trend stems far back in their history, long before communists had taken over the country. In some ways, a case might be made for chinese communists being more tolerant and humane than previous ruling dynasty's from china's past history.
To cite one possible example of this:
Lingchi (simplified Chinese: 凌迟; traditional Chinese: 凌遲), translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 until it was banned in 1905. It was also used in Vietnam and Korea. In this form of execution, a knife was used to methodically remove portions of the body over an extended period of time, eventually resulting in death.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingchi Does anyone remember traditional chinese foot binding of women?
It is possible that suffering has been culturally mandated by chinese culture for many years. Which could leave them without much in the way of alternative ideas of how to do things.