China may be oppressive compared to developed countries, but if you look at where it came from, at its current state it's probably the least oppressive government it's ever had.<p>Historically revolts were fought by peasants over high taxes that left them starving.  Now-a-days the issue is the lack of private land ownership, and the government is already implementing land reform for this specific reason.  Corruption is still rampant, but people are generally kept well-fed.  People will only shed blood if their livelihood is on the line, usually abstract reasons such as freedom of speech alone is not enough, these things usually only change gradually from within.