This kind of perception is notoriously unreliable*, so unless you have actual data to offer, please don't go there here. It leads to much lower-quality discussion, because it invites others to jump in with their own projections about hot/divisive issues, and soon we get locked in a feeling-vs.-feeling conflict with no exit.
* It's good to remember that randomness inevitably includes sequences that feel like they can't possibly be random.
China is a huge country of 1.4B people, including many English-speaking foreigners. It is certainly not a black box. If something is "happening on the ground" you can be sure to know about it if only via VPN, satellite images, etc. But more likely it would be all out in the open on Weibo, etc.
Virtually every organization tries to downplay rather than promote bad news--this is not an excuse to believe every rumor that you hear about that organization or person.
That is an excellent way to trick yourself into a host of verifiably false beliefs propagated by special interest groups, and a testament to the success of Washington's propaganda apparatus.
For example, you would believe that China didn't effectively contain COVID-19 as the CPC and Chinese media claimed, even though there are countless visible correlations that verify, e.g. measures of economic activity that cannot reasonably be spoofed.
I follow a lot special-interest online communities that are getting inundated with off-topic pro-china posts. "The west is corrupt and china will save the west." "The US can't possibly stand up to china." Maybe it's just a phenomenon that's unique to my own filter bubble. I'm not sure.
Yeah I also got several Chinese movie recommendations on Youtube, which was a first. Watched two, surprisingly I don't get them any more.
Not that I care, I still wonder why China doesn't have that much good music, especially rock. Folk is fine and all, but like, Japan and Korea seem way ahead in modern stuff.
I don't think china's political/economic system promotes innovation. you can excel at already defined things, but not come up with something new that the party might disagree with.
You wrote this comment in response to an article about China demonstrating a capability no other state has shown. You may want to reassess your priors.
> but not come up with something new that the party might disagree with.
I think the party is in favor of hypersonic missiles. They often do disagree with cultural output that may question or diminish the supremacy of the CCP.
