The government controls the newspapers, TV and radio. The protesters who recently marched against large international banking organizations in Seattle and Washington, DC would have been arrested in China. People serve long prison sentences for speaking out against the government. Work in China for some, means sweatshops. People can work as long as 18 hours day - with small breaks and little pay.
Children work in sweatshops too.
It's not uncommon for children of sweatshop workers to work alongside their parents, missing school or not being enrolled at all. Recently the Chinese government outlawed a religious group known as Falun Gong. Most of the followers of Falun Gong practice exercises similar to yoga. The group has thousands of well-organized members who have staged peaceful mass demonstrations. The most notorious crackdown of the Chinese government against its own people happened in 1989, when Chinese college students demanding a more democratic system marched in protest against the government in Tiananmen Square.