A vast majority, 93 percent, of surveyed Chinese people expressed satisfaction with the central government in 2016, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor.

Overall, popular satisfaction with China's government has grown stronger over the past 20 years, according to Edward Cunningham, director of Ash Center China Programs at the Harvard Kennedy School, and other Harvard researchers who led an independent, multiyear survey of Chinese public opinion.

Also in 2016, 70 percent of respondents voiced approval for their local governments, which deliver most public goods and services, marking a significant increase from 44 percent in 2003.

The study, which was carried out from 2003 to 2016, drew on face-to-face interviews with more than 31,000 people in urban and rural China.

Fighting the pandemic

These trends are likely continuing today, Cunningham said, adding "the recent COVID case is a useful example".

According to the same report, experts say that China's swift curbing of the virus contrasted sharply with bungled responses in the United States and other developed countries, swelling domestic support for the country.

Popular satisfaction in China should not be underestimated, said Elizabeth Economy, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California.

"The vast majority of Chinese feel a lot of pride in how their country has developed economically, and in the greater role China now plays on the global stage," she said.

By January, China's rapid economic recovery saw the country emerge in many ways stronger from last year. Its economic output grew by 2.3 percent in 2020 to become the only major world economy to expand.