I just ran down a list of possibilities

You were caught lying about Chinese people not having freedom of travel. You're going to have to learn to accept that.

Why do you feel a need to knee-jerk glorify and defend a nation-state you’ve never lived in or associated with?

Because it's a target of the USA. Simples.

simply described a facet of life in China without hyperbole

A completely irrelevant facet of life that had nothing to do with what we were talking about.