Rice was a lot more labor intensive in that it required more time in the field per food-for-one-person than wheat. It also doesn't store as well nor have bumper crops. So, if you have a bad year, it's hard to have a buffer with which to get by. As a result, the vast majority of the population had to get over themselves, cooperate and comply with spending most of their lives taking care of the rice or else people would starve. Troublemakers who did not cooperate were putting everyone else in clear, near-term risk and were dealt with harshly.
