I'm not sure thats accurate, most descriptions I see from chinese people indicate it varies by province, but none of them mention being banned from catching trains or planes. Tons of clickbaity youtubers clai.ing they were, including a mma dude who went China to challenge wushu practitioners to actual fights, but its never someone who lives in China, and when I asked people they had no idea wtf I was talking about.
Also, its weird for any American to criticize a system that bans people from flying when we have the no-fly list.