There’s a famous historical precedent in the Tiananmen Incident. Not the famous one, this was in 1976. Zhou Enlai, Mao’s second in command, who was widely perceived as more moderate and competent, died. As a passive-aggressive way of protesting Mao and the chaos of his cultural revolution, the citizens of Beijing spontaneously put up over-the-top acts of mourning for Zhou. It evolved into a demonstration against the government; one that was quickly dispersed, yet such a protest was something nearly unthinkable during the Mao era. That was one of the events that led to the end of Mao’s cultural revolution.