Yes. People's Daily is sort of a CCP newsletter. CGTN and Xinhua are also actual state outlets. Global Times is a tabloit, like Fox News.

You are right that Chinese people don't like talking about politics, but not because they fear the government. They tend to avoid confrontation in general. And also Chinese media spends very little time bashing foreign countries, so most people have very favorable opinions about foreign countries even if there are political tensions.

Research by reputed western institutions show conclusively that it is false that people are afraid of the government.

This paper by Harvard shows that in 2016, 93% of the people are satisfied with the central government. It also shows that people are not afraid to complain about the government. https://ash.harvard.edu/files/ash/files/final_policy_brief_7...

This other Harvard paper about censorship shows that censorship's goal is not to remove criticism, but to limit collective action, regardless of whether the speech is pro or anti government. The paper shows that many people are not afraid of, and do, complain about the government, and that if their comments do not instigate collective action, then they are unlikely to be removed. https://gking.harvard.edu/publications/how-censorship-china-...

This video by a Canadian expat shows, with concrete and verifiable examples, that despite censorship, people complain about issues, and that the government listens to grievances and even actively addresses them. https://youtu.be/i6jBayUuB4A

No, articles are usually not aggressive towards another country; light criticism could be found here and there, but not focused on the US.

The articles are e.g. about China becoming a leader in this/that economy sector. Focus topics seem to be (as far as I remember, been there in 2019 last):

- Progress and positive effects of the Belt and Road initiative - Massive infrastructure projects in mainland China - railway - Fighting pollution - stories about new regulations, violations and their prosecution - Fighting corruption - stories about prosecution of corruption - Aspiring economy sectors in China - domestic airplane development - Joint ventures with technology leaders - like research centers - Cooperation with other countries - Messages of the CCP and the president himself - perfected message control

There are a LOT of "India bad" articles though.