this just isn't entirely true, you're only being fed negatives of china, hyper inflated under the microscope of scrutiny. while the people do protest in china, the govt also listens. there's a reason they've kept it together for so long, no matter how much people wish it to fail. there is no comparison to the cultural revolution times, that's a ridiculous statement to make and completely ahistorical. the contradictions under those times were of a population boom and an industrial boom counteracted with widespread famines and other issues. the stability of china now isn't even comparable to the stability of it then.

chinese people are overwhelmingly positive about their govt, without this balance, their govt wouldnt exist. they already went through a revolution and are now experiencing the fruits of that revolution and handling of the country by the govt. to imply the people are owned by the state diminishes these facts that the govt wouldnt exist without the people. its pushing stereotypes that the chinese people are mindless and have no choice. these circumstances that have given them access to a booming middle class and better living standards than a lot of other countries. none of this happened by mistake, it took a century of hard work by the people. assuming things like this prove people have no idea how the country works which is built on centuries of anti-asian rhetoric, you don't have to go that far back to find chinese exclusion acts etc pushed by govt's banning chinese people from their countries (america)