The survey team found that compared to public opinion patterns in the U.S., in China there was very high satisfaction with the central government. In 2016, the last year the survey was conducted, 95.5 percent of respondents were either “relatively satisfied” or “highly satisfied” with Beijing. In contrast to these findings, Gallup reported in January of this year that their latest polling on U.S. citizen satisfaction with the American federal government revealed only 38 percent of respondents were satisfied with the federal government.

The surveys found that rural residents, generally poorer than those in cities, had more optimistic attitudes about inequality than their wealthier urban counterparts. The team’s analysis ties the closing of this satisfaction gap between rich and poor, as well as coastal and hinterland populations, to several policies including local budget spent on healthcare, welfare and education, and paved roads per capita.

“We tend to forget that for many in China, and in their lived experience of the past four decades, each day was better than the next.”

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/long-term-survey-reveals-chinese-government-satisfaction/

The paper itself will have more info than the article. But the thing is we cannot assume people in the global south are stupid. I have had several friends from socialist and formerly communist countries. They are shrewd and critical and have an eye for good deals. They know when people are being fake with them. And many people in the global south are willing to die for the opportunity of a better life. If China were doing wrong by its people, you can bet there would be a separatist movement somewhere that the US could leverage. But they aren't, so there isn't.

Let's use Colombia as an easy example of narrative manipulation. In 2021, Trade Unions started protesting their dissatisfaction with the govt's covid response, asking for universal basic income and some other demands that targeted big US businesses. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/23/colombian-activist-killings-hit-record-high-in-2022-ombudsman

These union leaders and the less organized mass movement around them supported Petro as their key to an anti-US-hegemonic movement. His reform programs are shaky and incomplete (it's only been a year since he took office), and people are still dying at the hands of cartels in a US-centered drug supplychain. Despite a ceasefire agreement with Petro, they're killing farmers who want to switch to growing food instead of drugs. And this issue is being used as a wedge to push him out of office. Despite this, his people still support him.

https://orinocotribune.com/colombia-people-mass-mobilize-in-support-of-president-petro/

https://theintercept.com/2023/06/07/colombia-gustavo-petro-letter/

Now, how is this being reported in official US channels?

https://apnews.com/article/colombia-president-petro-corruption-scandal-a3d4c4cc99c698158386bd5ff1b27335