Infographic: How did ordinary Chinese citizens feel about their government?

The survey conducted by Harvard University contains data from eight separate waves between 2003 and 2016, and records face-to-face interview responses from more than 31,000 individuals in both urban and rural settings. As such, it represents the longest-running independent effort to track citizen approval with all four levels of the Chinese government across time (ranging from the township, to the county, to the provincial, and finally the central government).

The survey found out that since 2003, Chinese citizen satisfaction with government has increased virtually across the board.

Even in 2003, the central government received a strong level of satisfaction, with 86.1% expressing approval. This high level of satisfaction increased even further by 2016, but such increases were minimal because public satisfaction was already high to begin with. By contrast, in 2003, township-level governments had quite negative satisfaction rates, with 44% expressing approval and 52% disapproving. However, by 2016, these numbers had flipped, with 70% approving and only 26% disapproving.