Being Chinese (Taiwanese to be specific) myself and knowing many Chinese people, I have to say it's more likely they are speaking the truth than not.<p>This comes down to a matter of national pride: most Chinese care deeply about the pride of their nation, and the new generation (the ones that grew up under the current regime) seem to be incapable of separating the Chinese identity from the Chinese Communist Party.<p>So, when criticism falls upon the government, even perfectly valid criticism, there is a perceived need to defend the government - since in their mind the government <i>is</i> the people. This false association causes a lot of problems, since it removes rational discourse.<p>The new generation of Chinese have an immense amount of national pride, and IMHO this is going to be the biggest problem we face in the future.