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Chinese policemen face off with protesters holding up blank pieces of paper in defiance in Beijing, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022. Street protests that broke out in several Chinese cities over the weekend may have come as a surprise, but the ruling Communist Party has been preparing for this moment for years, decades even. Ever since the last major demonstrations culminated in the bloody military crackdown of 1989, China has been building an internal security force aimed at overwhelming, intimidating, imprisoning and silencing all challenges. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)