IMO, you answered your own question. The party has been hollowed out, the inner circle is entirely his loyalists. The upper echelons of government are his yes-men now, and the average person in China knows well how the state responds to political dissidents.

To keep workers in line, China had been relying more on the carrot of sustained economic growth to incentivize social order, but indefinite growth is getting difficult now, which means they are likely going to pivot more to the stick to enforce order.

The Chinese "People's Police" has job of "safeguarding state security". It has a headcount of 2 million employees and a budget of $110 Billion. All means of communication and social assembly could expose a person's politics. A notable department is the "State Security Police", who are responsible for "detecting, suppressing and eliminating all counter-revolutionary organizations and activities, defending the people's power, and maintaining political security".

Consider how your actions might change, if you constantly have to consider - "Is this person saying controversial things just to bait me into something which can be construed to be counter-revolutionary?" Furthermore, it's not just yourself, but your family and friends who would have to deal with the state's reaction to your actions.

This is likely going to be a very difficult time for many people in China. But even, for Chinese citizens who managed to move abroad, the Ministry of Public Security can still put pressure on them, as it has been setting up unofficial "police stations" in a number of major cities around the world, particularly in Europe, which at a minimum would be a chilling reminder.