Unfortunately, you’re right. As long as food, even meager amounts, can be put on the table, most Chinese will not rise up against their Communist government. It was pretty much the same when warlords ruled during the Twenties and Thirties, with a nod to the titular Nationalist government. The average Chinese just tried to survive and keep his family intact. Partly due to the fact that Confucianism still plays a role in the family, he sees that his life has improved dramatically since the Cultural Revolution so he’s willing to go along with the powers that be.
After my uncle received a graduate degree in textile engineering from NC State, he made the mistake of returning to China to help his father-in-law modernized his Shanghai textile factories (mostly cotton and silk). Both the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution were hard on the family. When Red Guards found his “bourgeois” photos and 78 rpm Big Band records, they threw my uncle into a mental ward, where he committed suicide.
Interesting story.