The impact of the French Revolution? “Too early to say.” Thus did Zhou Enlai – in responding to questions in the early 1970s about the popular revolt in France almost two centuries earlier – buttress China’s reputation as a far-thinking, patient civilisation. The former premier’s answer has become a frequently deployed cliché, used as evidence of the sage Chinese ability to think long-term – in contrast to impatient westerners. The trouble is that Zhou was not referring to the 1789 storming of the Bastille in a discussion with Richard Nixon during the late US president’s pioneering China visit. Zhou’s answer related to events only three years earlier – the 1968 students’ riots in Paris, according to Nixon’s interpreter at the time.
The point is clear, though: do not be so quick to judge.
The first reason not to interfere is that it takes a long time to let matters play out. Whilst they're still playing out, interfere can be premature.
The second reason not to interfere is that most things work themselves out without interference.
For heaven's sake, leave it be!
Leave what be?
Well, pretty much everything.