And yet, that hasn't stopped them in the past.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1...
I think this is a good reminder of why they would want to keep people just barely satisfied. China will go that far, but it's an expensive point to make.
Since Tiananmen, the party has basically bargained that people will accept economic progress as a substitute for political freedom. Now that the rapid growth of the last two decades is starting to slow down, we'll have to see how the CCP and Chinese people respond.
Cracking down on college students seems like a really dumb idea.