I worked with a Chinese lady whose parents were extremely poor, but who herself had been well educated and was successful in a professional job in Western Europe. I asked her, "are you happy with the CCP government?"

She said that people in China simply do not think of it in those terms. Being "happy with the government" struck her as a particularly Western way of framing the question. I pressed her further and asked if she thought that they governed in a way that improved people's lives or made them worse. She said that she thought they improved people's lives, and that a country like China needs a strong government to hold it together, and that the CCP is succeeding in that respect.

I don't know if this is a representative view, but take it for what it is: an account of what a single Chinese lady told a random person on HN.

I can attest to a similar experience asking someone from China. The idea of being "happy with the government" implies there is something to do about being not happy with the government. It's a little like asking someone if they're happy with the position of the continents on the planet. Sure, you can wish that Australia were in the northern hemisphere, but that's sort of "besides the point." There is not a sense, in China, that any individual or group is in a position to seriously change how the government runs the country.

I thought it was relevant because I can imagine a situation where you would never criticize an entity that can imprison you (99% approval for Beijing), but you then would vent your true frustration on local government.