For the last 15 years I travelled 3 or 4 times a year to China for my work. (purchasing cheap stuff I can sell for high dollars in the west)
Each trip averaged two weeks and in those trips I travel all around China.
From HongKong to deep inside of China. I speak with high officials and with factory workers because I am intrigued by their culture.
The Chinese government is really afraid for revolutions. They had many in their history and the Chinese people will start a new revolution if needed.
Especially now the communication freedom is uncontrollable. The government can block some sites but not all of them and if they do block everything than people will start a revolution for sure.
The sole purpose of the government is to satisfy the majority of the people. It is naïve to think you can satisfy everybody but at least they try.
In my home country (The Netherlands) we have a multi-party government. Every 4 years we have a popularity contest (elections). After forming the actual government (which can take months) decision making is slow and always a compromise nobody wants. Then I really favor the Chinese way.
But the Chinese government has a lot of corruption and in some cases no merci for the minority.
So I still prefer to live in my own country and hope our Monarch will seize the power again. :)