Three key issues to understand Chinese people's satisfaction: Harvard studay

In July, 2020, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation of Harvard University issued a report called Understanding CPC Resilience: Surveying Chinese Public Opinion Through Time. According to the report, Chinese citizen satisfaction with government had increased virtually across the board since 2003. By 2016, people's satisfaction level of the government had reached 93.1%.

The report shows that between 2005 and 2011, survey re-spondents reported large increases in access to several different insurance and social welfare programs. For example, the proportion of rural villagers covered by basic medical insurance rose from 32% in 2005 to 82.8% in 2011, while the proportion with basic employee pension plans rose from 36.8% to 71.3%. These findings suggest that the Chinese government is increasingly effective at delivering basic healthcare, welfare, and other public services to disadvantaged populations.

In 2016, 71.5% of respondents approved of government efforts to fight corruption. Likewise, the proportion of citizens who viewed Chinese government officials as generally "clean" increased to 44.2% in 2015, and 65.3% in 2016. By 2016 the majority of respondents felt that government efforts to control corruption were having an effect and that things were moving in the right direction.

While the 2016 survey reveals that Chinese citizens are most concerned about air pollution, with 34% respondents naming it as the most important environmental issue, Chinese citizens are generally optimistic looking five years ahead- 43% expect their local air quality to get better.