Today’s Chinese have never known freedom
No Mainland Chinese has ever known freedom from the First Emperor to today.
There was an extremely short time between the last emperor and WWII when the ROC existed and the mainland was learning about freedom, but it was a long time ago and for a very short period and had it’s minor bumps and abrasions which were exploited by the communists.
Likely a small handful on the mainland are old enough to remember that time, but only Taiwan to which the ROC escaped, Hong Kong, and Singapore have really tasted it fully.
The difference between those small bastions of liberty and the mainland are so stark as to astonish.