In a report on the Shanghai truck drivers' dispute, in the Financial Times of 27 April, Jamil Anderlini summarised the Chinese authorities' standard procedure for strikes.
As he describes it, it is exactly the same as the standard procedure of the USSR's rulers in the Brezhnev period.
"The... authorities first [send] in riot police to confront the strikers and introduce the threat of official violence, but arrest only a handful...
Then identif[y] ringleaders [they can] negotiate with and quickly [come] to a negotiated settlement...
[Then]... wait until most strikers or protesters have gone home or back to work and then quietly round up the ringleaders for punishment".
The main difference seems to be that the Chinese authorities jail "ringleaders", whereas the USSR's rulers, attempting some finesse, certified them insane and sent them to mental hospitals.