Any Chinese person who is my age lived through, and remembers, the Cultural Revolution; his parents also survived the Great Leap Forward. The quality of his life has improved immeasurably over the last 30 years. That will buy the CCP a lot of gratitude and forgiveness for its mistakes.
Most Chinese people are not my age, however. Young adults have never known a China that wasn’t growing at a minimum of 6 percent per year. It would be natural for them to take Chinese economic success for granted, and to react strongly if things start going wrong, as they will, at some point.
In short, Xi and the CCP are building a monster of expectations, and they are going to have to keep feeding it. Things could get ugly if they don’t.