For sure. That was one striking thing in Wild Swans by Jung Chang, she mentioned that when she went to study in the UK in the first batch of students after 1978, and she heard people criticizing the government, it was like a whole new world opened up to her, that this sort of thing would be allowed. She also mentioned her dad's shock (he was a high-level Sichuan official) when he realized the Cultural Revolution was really terrible (even criminal, she has him saying) and his thought was literally to write to Mao/the party to admonish them.

Of course, nowadays everyone (who is educated at least) has access to the West, and so I imagine it takes even more of an effort (for more thoughtful, principled, ethical people) to manage the cognitive dissonance.