'contained contention'

Not the next Arab Spring: The China method for managing popular unrest

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/09/20/not-the-next-arab-spring-the-china-method-for-managing-popular-unrest/#more-21797

"Chinese leaders effectively provide an outlet for the most mobilised, informed and engaged segments of the population to express their opinions through selective tolerance of popular protests and policy debates. At the same time, the state relies upon pervasive surveillance, coercion and censorship to restrain activists from mobilising to directly challenge its rule. The result is a kind of contained contention, in which popular protests continue to erupt and influence specific policy decisions but do not fundamentally undermine the party-state’s authority."

‘Mass incidents’ in China

http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/07/13/mass-incidents-in-china/
The vast majority of mass incidents have a clear objective — to defend or restore citizen rights encroached upon by authority or the market. Termed ‘responsive’ collective action by the late social scientist Charles Tilly, civil unrest is a normal social response to the infringement of rights to which there is no effective remedy.