Does it really make sense? 1.2b people, if they know the govt is trying to control the narrative a vpn is not hard. What about 325m people in the US and other western countries that believe their govt would never lie nor their main stream media so never look for alternative news sources.
Basically all Chinese in cities at least can also speak English. So they get Chinese and English news. Most people in the west cannot read anything other than English.
Who really has the blinkered view? Remember the human brain believes things it hears often even when you know it's bs eg conspiracy theories
History shows an endless parade of examples where sufficiently charismatic and/or cunning leaders/regimes/movements (e.g. Mao, Reagan, Trump, Salazar, Ghadaffi, Khan, Gandhi, Seko, Savimbi, etc)...kept large populations in cultish thrall through combinations of carrots and sticks, including via control valves on statutes and the media.
Take your pick on where any figure fits, but its very possible for it to "make sense"
Basically all Chinese in cities at least can also speak English. So they get Chinese and English news. Most people in the west cannot read anything other than English.
Who really has the blinkered view? Remember the human brain believes things it hears often even when you know it's bs eg conspiracy theories