One thing I will point out about China is that they are fanatic about avoiding or squelching trouble, chaos or disorder ("luan"). If you are a threat to public order, you will be dealt with severely.
If you offer this threat by endangering the public (holding a girl at knife point), or challenging the government (Tian An Men), you should expect to die. If you think cops should shoot until the threat is eliminated, then think of the official view as being, "If you did it once, you may do it again. If you are breathing, you are a threat."
Disorder in SUPPORT of the government will still bring you grief. When the US announced the sale of additional F16s to Taiwan (1992ish), university students in Beijing protested in front of the US Embassy, in vocal support of their national government's published opinion. They were hauled into the Chinese diplomatic police guard hut and beaten.
Protest=disorder=bad=official response.
Regards,
Tom