I think we are a little biased when viewing success from the Chinese perspective as being free & prosperous. That's not how the average person thinks across the globe. The goals there are stability & safety. Xi and the CCB are mostly successful at this front as well as shielding most of people from the downsides of pursuing those goals.

It's the same reason America is really attractive for certain groups of people. You might go from being a respected doctor in your country to an Uber driver. But the pursuit of freedom & prosperity is worth it for you, and no one else in the world thinks this way. (South America is the closest, but still a distant second)

This is also why some people absolutely go nuts when politician in Americans take a little bit of freedom for safety or stability or whatever.