The one-sidedness of official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rhetoric and propaganda should not be taken to indicate a lack of diversity of viewpoint on the part of the Chinese population or general public agreement with CCP positions, according to a new report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank. The report, titled “Public Opinion in China: A Silent Liberal Majority?”, presents extensive quantitative research and polling data amassed by Stanford University professors Jennifer Pan and Yiqing Xu that directly contravene the notion of a monolithic populace that shares or assents to official propaganda. A wide diversity of opinion exists whether the issue is politics within China, the rules for participating in the political process and taking part in public demonstrations, the number of children that couples are permitted to have, the uses of private capital, land ownership, trade and tariffs, foreign and military policy, …