People in the west have this false idea that people in China are repressed and hate their system of government.
This isn't like the Eastern Bloc where most citizens knew Communism wasn't working and that their governments were fairly inept. The Chinese will stand by the CPC as long as they keep the economy moving forward. Even if economic downturn starts to hit, the CPC has earned 30+ years of undying goodwill to help ride it out. Contrast that with the Soviet Union where the country was crumbling by the 1980s.
For the average Chinese person who is doing well (key word: doing better than they were in the past), why would they ever want to change things? Many of these people think that the concept of a liberal democracy is a joke. "Why would I ever want the freedom to say whatever I want and potentially rock the boat?" "Why would I want random people to run and be elected when the meritocratic CPC never screws up?" "Why would I want to promote art that damages the face of my country?". Instead of using whataboutism to detract from the negatives, the negatives themselves have now become positives.
I honestly find it a bit of a terrifying irreconcilable difference when talking with certain international students here in Canada.
As a Vietnamese, let me tell you how it works in our country, might give anyone interested in this understand better:
You should add the fact that the government officials are not sitting in their chair giving orders. They are actually very active and quite "nosy" (by nosy I mean they show interest in what people do and are willing to take part in and enact policy to support), and they are no fools. Seriously, compare them to your Republican leaders and remove the lust for money with sincere beliefs in the system and you have what Jroc describes. As long as people in a leadership position "publicly show" (this part in quotes because the majority do believe and some may not but will toe the line as if that line is their lifeline) that they are genuine in their concerns and interests, which let people see that mistakes are unavoidable and forgiving them a good thing. As a result, it makes anyone critical look like fools and a lot of the critics will, most definitely, question their stance at least sometimes and doubt is a powerful deterrence to any opposition.
They are also very critical of themselves too and then reevaluate their position and improve to a degree, it is most definitely not a joke to them that they are above criticism and improvement. Most of the time, to their credits, the people, affected by issues they cannot ignore, see their lives improved. This makes the critics' position very weak because not only do they have little power but also most of the solutions are always in the hands of the government or big corporations with ties to the state. It makes things like complaints work but further criticism a dead end. Add in things like NED, CIA, etc. and you know even the hard-working, well-educated will hedge their bet on the government than the "useless" critics. A lot of the critics also give in too because as you know no one wants to be a pariah in their own community just to hold their principle which most likely are not too different from the government. Patriotism is a strong belief and with strong governance the effects are multiplied. Seriously, do you ever hear about any criticism against the government from China along the traitorous line?
More than that, critical arguments themselves are always made popular by state media which leaves the critics hanging. Individualism and personal credits are not regarded if you are challenging the system. They can always discard ideas from such sources without opposition from within.
In addition, people who side with the government are rewarded handsomely. By that I mean they get praise from the government and the community alike. You should understand that the government does not differentiate itself from the people. People's army, people's court, people's assembly... you name it and the people follow, believe and trust them too. These words in English may not mean a lot but the "people" part is as important to a good part of the country as the Second Amendment in the US. This gives people confidence in the system. Seriously, compare the way our bureaucracy work in a ten year period and they are very different, enabled by the advance in technology, along with it further prosperity of the people. If you keep being rewarded for such work and a lot of people like you do, opposition is definitely sugar-coated poison.
All in all, pressing issues are always considered and addressed to a very, and I do mean very effective degree and therefore challenges to the system are considered not sincere, destabilizing and dangerous and are always discarded as ultimately unsustainable and ineffective which results in critics are left pariah and unsupported, and I mean that seriously. If your ideas of opposition are not recognized by the state you may as well talk to a wall because your neighbors most definitely won't. Effective governance under social harmony trumps all in Asian society (at least the East-Asian origin part, you can see this to a degree in Japan, with their one-party dominance) and you should understand that the people are not outside the system and their concerns are addressed which make further measures of democracy unpopular, and I mean that people actually really hate it. They would rather do serious harm to themselves rather than listening to criticism of the state and calls for revolutions like the Hong Kong protests are actually a matter of existence, as the government brings it out as a separatist movement, no joke intended. Let's try how popular California Independence here in Era is and you will understand, disregard logic for a moment and think about that. People are involved in governance in ways that will make it hard to "devolve" and should they do, will be dealt with, with little support from their neighbors at best or with support to the government from their neighbors most likely.
I really would love for people, at least on Era, to acknowledge that the picture you are getting are very different from what the Chinese are getting and if you are looking for changes, better commit yourselves harder than what you have been doing for the Kurds because that is not gonna cut it; because the Chinese are definitely listening to their government and that one is what the Chinese government commit themselves to task with and promise that the opposite is a given to the Chinese people, that it will not leave Chinese hanging, regardless of the dissenting voices and opposing forces. Such commitments are a cause to die for especially for the Chinese since the state has lasted longer than most of their lives (Seriously, 70 years while their average age is at what, 50-60?) and quite frankly, should the state call people to arms to protect them as their inheritance, the Chinese will do it in a heartbeat and will devote their lives for it because the government more than earned it. When even your gramps agree that their lives keep on improving non-stop for 30 years any opposition is a joke