My grandparents lived through the time of the civil war between Communists and the KMT (Nationalists), after/during WWII. Communist Party members were always messing up with my grandpa's life [sent him to a reeducation camp, invaded his home to snoop around, put a stop to all group gatherings including Chinese New Year gatherings with the family, de-titled my great grandpa (who was the last "family elder" of our family, since that tradition died when the Communists took over), imprisoned/shot people in our family, etc., and in general, my grandpa supported Chiang Kai-Shek, so he was not happy about the Communist takeover]. My grandparents eventually smuggled themselves out of China before China's communist government closed the doors/borders though, in the 1950s/60s (don't remember exactly when...I'd have to look it up in my notes). So while they did experience seeing some of the starvation that went on, they didn't have to suffer through it for long, since they moved out of China to become HK citizens, then later decided to retire in America (specifically, Texas). He had no feelings about Communism as the years went by, but he really hated the Communist Party as it was when it began to take over China. He remembers seeing Communists shoot other Chinese people by the railroad tracks, which made him really hate the Communist government (as it was back then). He died last year at the age of 96, but I do know he went back to China (for vacations, sightseeing) in his 70s-80s, and so much changed about China that I don't think he thought his opinion could be the same anymore.
My dad lived in China for a while (he fled China when he was like, 10 or something). But one story he told me was that when he was a kid, he would walk into an unlocked "junk yard" (not sure what to call it) that the Communists had gated off, grab some steel scrap metal/bars, then sell them back to the Communists, for some extra spending money. They eventually caught on and locked the gates lol. This was during the time when the Communists were buying massive amounts of steel, and everyone was pitching in by selling their pots/pans, even utensils. It was hard to get out of the country though, you had to have a reason, so my grandma made one up that held some kernel of truth, and managed to smuggle herself out of China after her husband (my grandpa had left China before her, using the reason that he had a debt to collect from someone in HK...which was true, but he never came back to China). Then later when there was no one but extended family to look after their kids, because both parents were in HK, so the kids were granted permission to leave China for HK as well.
When they got to HK, all the kids were malnourished even though they did eat well while in China (because my grandpa had hidden gold around their house in Shanghai, so they could afford to eat). It's just that they all had worms, which was easily fixed with a tablet/medicine.
Anyway, both my grandma and grandpa learned english while they were young. My grandpa, while he worked as a radio operator, would listen to Voice of America sometimes, but not all the time. Aside from that, they didn't know much about American culture during their experience under Communist Party member rule, since they were more preoccupied with trying to live/survive/work.