I think the problem may be deeper. China certainly is innovative and technically adept, but they have a serious sex problem (one-child policy and demographics pun partially intended).
China isn't cool. Even the Chinese elite drive Western cars, watch Western entertainment, wear Western brands, and so on. Given that China's labor costs are nearly equal to American labor, if additive manufacturing strips away their manufacturing ecosystem advantage, there will be little reason to buy from China what can be cheaply made at home or elsewhere. China can make anything that anyone else in the world makes, but "Made in China" is the last thing people expect to see on a luxury product, unless it's accompanied by "Designed in California."
What do you mean by "even the elite drives western cars..." Obviously only the elite can buy these. And most Chinese people eat Chinese food, visit Chinese touristic places, read Chinese books, etc. There's only the western movies which could be said to really have no local equivalent.
It's not that China lacks brands, but that it lacks globally aspirational brands. Here's the problem in reverse: do non-Chinese aspire to buy Chinese-designed goods? It has even become increasingly unfashionable in China to wear knock-offs, making the demand for foreign luxury goods even greater. Of course only the elite can afford these items, but when the poor and middle class of today become the elites of tomorrow, what will be any different for them?
Democracy and corruption are very complex issues in China. Chinese in general aren't all that concerned about democracy, and the West has plenty of corruption, just in a different way. For example, American congressmen are hesitant to close expensive and unnecessary domestic bases because they mean jobs and votes for their home districts. Perhaps China could adopt an anti-corruption method pioneered by China's only female leader to have ever held the masculine title of emperor: Wu Zetian. She instituted a system of anonymous complaint boxes for local officials that went straight to Beijing. Although undemocratic, it helped stamp out corruption and improved the public's perception of fairness.
I think you are wrong on all points, being efficiently oppressed doesn't mean you aren't concerned about it and wouldn't want something better if it was available and you knew about it.
Your example of the American congressman might not be the most efficient use of resources but it is democratic, they are responding to their constituents needs.
The point about complaint boxes is laughable, it's like the companies I worked for with suggestion boxes that ignore every suggestion that doesn't match their world view. If every Catholic complained they couldn't practice their religion without government interference do you think it would make any difference?
Chinese in general are more concerned with the system working than it being democratic. They see Europe and America and view our democracy as dysfunction. Those complaint boxes did work, by the way. As a female emperor, not empress, Wu Zetian was under constant threat of coups and uprisings. That she managed to rule to a ripe old age is a prime example of her effectiveness. Then again, it wasn't all complaint boxes - she was rightly feared for her iron fist, like when she did away with one of her former courtesan rivals by having her appendages chopped off and the body thrown in a vat of wine so "she could finally have enough to drink."
China isn't cool. Even the Chinese elite drive Western cars, watch Western entertainment, wear Western brands, and so on. Given that China's labor costs are nearly equal to American labor, if additive manufacturing strips away their manufacturing ecosystem advantage, there will be little reason to buy from China what can be cheaply made at home or elsewhere. China can make anything that anyone else in the world makes, but "Made in China" is the last thing people expect to see on a luxury product, unless it's accompanied by "Designed in California."