I don’t just mean outrage or regular rage, I mean shock that someone was to the left of “legal weed and free college but only for those that operate a successful business for 3 years in a disadvantaged community” 
takes.
I think federating took them by surprise, looking back. For about a week, those smug liberals were at a loss to even fathom what Hexbears were saying, and could only chant bullshit about how we’re Russian/Chinese bots.
Sure they still do that but they’ve slightly adapted to Hexbear presence.
There are plenty of anarchists on the sub, and not all Socialists here are massive fans of China (I think most have pretty severe critique on some of their recent LGBT+ policies).
But we do for the most part offer it “Critical Support” meaning that we assume it is trying to be Socialist in good faith and criticise it as a friend and ally, not an enemy “corrupting Socialism”. (China does not claim to be Socialist yet, it is “building Socialism”, and expects to complete the lower stage of that around 2050. Even the Soviets didn’t claim to have built Socialism until 1970.)
There are some exceptions of course; many here will, for instance, support Vietnam over China in any disputes they may have, despite Vietnam currently having a marginally better relationship with the USA. This is generally because Vietnam is doing very well for itself, has good LGBT policies, and of course the memory of Vietnam putting down Pol Pot.
its a touchy subject yeah, but again all good faith arguments. If you see China as more of an enemy than that of NATO and the US, you will find no friends here.