Winston Sterzel, who is probably one of the "edge cases of popular Youtubers who lived there for years" you refer to, has a deep love for China and the Chinese people. He does not say that much, but I think I can see it in his videos, e.g., of daily life on the Chinese street.
He learned the language, bought a house there, got married, and did not want to leave.
forgotoldacc
And his videos are also the most transparently fake to a hilarious degree. He found a way to make money with fake outrage and ran with it.
fouc
he didn't really start heavily pushing the outrage angle until after he had left China though?
He learned the language, bought a house there, got married, and did not want to leave.