If you ask any ethnic Chinese in the world, PRC citizen or otherwise, they'd all wish for a (eventual) free and democratic China, without any exception.
But China is now slowly regrouping after a century and a half of near-distegration and dismemberment caused by corrupt and ineffectual government, bullying and looting by foreigners, civil war, and socio-economic havoc created by maniacal ideologues. No other civilizational culture has suffered such dislocations over such a protracted period in modern memory.
So true pride can only come when primary existential needs are fulfilled: a strong economy that creates a broad middle class, not just enriching a group of corrupt elite; basic human rights of food, housing, healthcare & education for all; adequate space for artistic and civil rights expression.
And finally, the reunification of all territory hitherto torn asunder – Macau & HK have returned to the fold; Taiwan is the last remaining major jigsaw piece.
It's premature to talk about democracy and universal suffrage when the nation is yet to be whole. Every Chinese instinctively understands that. That said, the Chinese are already voting for their local village chairs and legislators, so it's only a matter of time before the people's desire for direct elections at the highest level are whetted.
Agree that it will be status quo. The Chinese aren't in a hurry; their concept of time is different to most nations'. Just so, women in the US got to vote in 1920, less than a hundred years ago. And the blacks got the vote barely 50 years ago. For a 5,000-year-old nation recovering from 150 years of chaos, these are but blinks of an eye in their consciousness.
