A friend of mine described his government/business trip to china a few years ago, and the feeling of a "bubble of power" as they were driven around by a high up party member in a black limosine (german, of course) where the driver would occasionally get out and yell at people to move, and they would very quickly clear the way. They visited farms, factories, universities and tech companies and saw all walks of life. Those black limosines are still very popular...

I think that connection to the working class is more tenuous than you believe. China still has a long way to go on the road of (edit: was "to") socialism, and that is OK, so long as they are driving in the right direction and stay on a peaceful path. If not, the connection breaks and legitimacy will collapse.