For a lot of wild animals, smiling can be a sign of aggression or unease. This is just an initiative to help humanity rediscover it's natural roots by changing the meaning of smiles back.
No, but the state is more used to these really outwardly repressive measures. So they use china like Guinea pigs, kinda. Because this slipped by in an article from three years ago most of us have never read on The Verge. If this happened in the US or Europe—well, if it happened in the US we’d have heard about it, people would’ve been angry for three days, and then we all would’ve moved on. If it had happened in Europe, they would’ve burned down the city it happened in. At least 1/3 would’ve had the proper response.