I'm Chinese, I feel assaulted when westerners say anything closer to it, how brainwashed they are and how corrupted your media is. The truth is, human are the same, China is huge, nothing is perfect, but of course people are free living in China, if the government corrupted, there are various way to report, and the local leaders got banished if found evidence valid, the reality is, the government is doing good for its people, if you shouting out lies and creating chaos in public, you will be stopped and condemned first by Chinese people, and any government in the world would be standing out, as it's their duty to do so.
While people here only want to hear what they want to hear, no matter how I explained, it seems pointless, just one last comments, I'm here because I have free life in China, and I have opportunities to study, work freely, less politics, more about myself development, and studying abroad, learning to be open, cooperate with people, respect different culture, and don't make any comments on something that I don't know/understand, put peace ahead, if you are rich and strong, its your responsibility to help the weak and poor, otherwise, take good care of yourself etc. You see, those values are taught and advocated widely and are the basics in any education level in China, and this won't happen without a government guide its people. Anyway, please next time when you read news(mainly media from USA, and its allies, UK, Canada, AUS) about China, just pause a second, and think with your own mind, don't take everything they say, that's it.