I spoke to a couple Chinese solar engineers some time ago and they were really really negative about China. I think they are loyal when they are within ear-shot of anyone who could make trouble for them.
I have to chime in here because this is one of the biggest misconceptions foreigners have about mainland Chinese. You're mistaking a cultural trait with the concept of national loyalty. Complaining/Criticizing is a full time hobby if you're raised on the mainland. The more widespread and paramount something is, the more criticism it receives on a daily basis. Among the general populace, criticism of all things is constant and unrelenting.
I met a middle aged Chinese man outside of a 7-eleven who could speak broken English in Xi'An. After shitting on the CPC for 20 minutes, on a bunch of etiquette police lurking around a car park nearby, etc he proceeded to shit on the US and it's imperialism toward china and its inevitable demise at the hands of the chinese nation, on the insolent rebellious Japanese and Vietnamese. But he liked the Koreans whom he deemed a Chinese ethnic group, as he had the Vietnamese and Japanese. He also emulated a Rei and started talking about Russia in the context of it being China's resource bitch.
Simply put they have big mouths and will mouth off at anything, especially if they have a target audience that might agree in some way or a target physical object to burn down or destroy. Such criticism is healthy. The west trumpets free speech yet its populace are plump, calorie addled drones. There is zero militancy or conviction in our discourse on the big issues here. Maybe the occasional debate on tv or a lazy, orderly rally in some park. That's where conviction ends. For typical Chinese it ends with the burning down of their protest target or the ousting of a city mayor and his entire police department. That's not self-loathing, disloyalty to the state, etc. That's what is expected on a grass-roots level. Naturally with all things, you can go too far. Exercise self-determination in moderation. As for us westerners-exercise self-determination in any way, at all, please, fucking get off the couch/grandstand and give meaning to tired symbolism. Voting for corporate puppets isn't it.
I look at the protests in Greece and I see a bunch of disorganized young men throwing molotovs at police barricades. Noble effort but futile. Direct your energy at
something more direct.