Just bear in mind why many of us consider China one of the most horrible hellholes of them all, not because you can't have a comfortable existence there, but because comfort and security are bought at the price of repressive and brutal totalitarian governance that seems to have little regard for individual human life.
Little regard for individual human life?Covid deaths China: 4,636
Two days ago, China had its first CV death in 8 months.
Covid deaths US: 425,000
Hellhole?
China has a very low crime rate. Women and individuals can walk down any street late at night with little worry about crime. Very safe. Next to zero guns.
The economy has been booming for decades, people are optimistic about improving their lives and their children having a better future. Last decade and this decade in China are largely comparable to the post-war US from 1947 -1964.
China becoming the dominant player in future industries such as solar. There are benefits to long-term economic strategizing and the gov't working together with business to reach goals.
Not sure about this CV year, but ordinarily there are public protests in China on a near daily basis. Mostly involving gov't and property companies taking land and not compensating the villagers fairly. Or stock or other companies swiping account holders money and fleeing. And sometimes these protests turn violent including burning or overturning police cars and such. The gov't will not allow widespread organized protests aimed at the central gov't, though folks go to petition the central gov't for redress all the time. Large and widespread protests targeting the US or Japan are often allowed. After the US bombed the China Embassy in Belgrade there were thousands of protesters in front of the US consulate in Shanghai for weeks.
There's a lot more freewheeling messiness here than you'd expect. A lot more protests, a lot more people trying to assert their legal rights. A lot more legal rights for individuals. People say what they want for the most part. But you probably should be careful about using social media for certain types of political discussion critical of the gov't..
The crackdown on the far west Muslims has been brutal and ugly. As was the earlier Falun Gong crackdown and reeducation camps. Organized opposition to the gov't gets put down harshly. And in political cases even the lawyers often find themselves getting arrested.
Then again minorities get warehoused in jail in the US and treated poorly.