I'd read stories where the peasants were treated like trash by the upper class and that the potential for class war fare wasn't out of the question.
The elites and their cronies are pretty hated by the ordinary peasants because they got comfortable over guanxis (relationships - I understand networking works in the West as well, but in China itself it is the only way you can get something done). These cronies got their first capitals from "unspecified sources" i.e. government "loans" or whatever. They then used speculations to snowball their gains.
I have no idea if the "true" middle class is really hated. My sis-in-law's family is one of them. Her dad refuses to take bribes over time again and again, and so he couldn't make it to the CEO of a steel-making corporation's division in one major city.
Anyhow, I think it would be wishful thinking to expect the first and most of the second group to support US policies to promote democratizations. They are effectively more akin to the elite supporter groups in most of the non-Islamic middle Eastern nations or Latin America. They have no trouble sending their kids to America for study, but they would no doubt see their interests are vested with the Commies.