Agreed. In my experience, while Chinese (particularly those who've been abroad) are of course well aware of the propaganda they're subject to, they're still influenced by it. Just as people in other countries are.

The defence against that is

* a vibrant, strong, diverse media landscape

* an education that emphasises anti-authoritarian, critical thinking (and not unquestioning adherence to dogma).

In my opinion, most of Europe fares reasonably well on both points. The USA sort of middling. China bad. I'm unsure about today's Russia.