In this presentation, Wenfang Tang will describe the historical development of public opinion survey research in post-Mao China, and how such research revealed some unexpected and interesting findings. Specifically, these findings are related to the anti-democratic nature of the 1989 Tiananmen urban protests, the high level of interpersonal trust, citizen political activism, government responsiveness to public demand, and the popular support of the Chinese Communist Party. These “surprise” findings are often counter-intuitive and highly controversial, but they should only be challenged by credible empirical evidence.