Orostan wrote:
You did not mention that local governments are also regarded as more corrupt in China - Xi’s anti-corruption campaigns have got him support because of this.
The same campaign that employed torture and false confessions? Do the Chinese public know that accused politicians do not have the right to a fair trial? I'm guessing no.
You didn’t refute anything I said anyways or make a real argument against it.
I did, actually. The source of high public trust in the central government is carefully selected propaganda.
Do you believe Chinese people are mindless drones who believe whatever propaganda tells them to believe or so you think that Chinese people have better experiences with central government and not local government?
It is delusional to deny the effect of propaganda through mess media on the public. I'm sure you are aware that media coverage of the WMD story influenced American public opinion to go to war. Constant exposure to positive news would tilt public opinion in the favor of the central government, as noted by the author of the study himself.