People at first complain that they cannot criticize the government and have no freedom of speech.

So, Mao decided to change all that. He encouraged people to criticize the government, encouraged them to say whatever they wanted. Great debates were held where people free flowed their thoughts in public.

Ordinary citizens could even drag government officials and academics out onto the streets to humiliate them if they had done wrong things. Great freedom right? Try dragging a government official and humiliate him in public today. You can’t. You think the freedom loving people would loved the cultural revolution right?

Oh no…says the Chinese people. That’s too much freedom. Many were actually glad that the cultural revolution ended and the government began to restrict freedom to introduce order.

People don’t like the cultural revolution because there was too much freedom. Now, people don’t like elections because they have too many choices.