We shouldn’t confuse the effectiveness of these protests with their legality. Yes, the protests moved the government to change its approach to prevent even more unrest. Still, the CCP considered them to be illegal and reacted with force, arresting participants or those that spread information about the protests.

Of course, that is also not what I would consider ‘publicly or vocally’.

I have a Taiwanese friend who is very much anti-CCP, but he does go to china for vacation every now and then.

Yes, you need to be in the right headspace, you cannot expect to vocally or publicly criticize the government and go unpunished. But politics are not everything. China is beautiful in many ways and has many great people. I think it would be a good idea to take the opportunity and make this experience. And afterwards, your opinions on china and the CCP will have a stronger foundation than they do now.

edit: you say you are politically active: is this evident from your social media accounts? That might be problematic.