China is honestly light years ahead of the US. I live in one of the most expensive cities in the US and am here on vacation for a month traveling through China and it is insane how far ahead of us they are. From the high speed rail system that I have been using to go from city to city, the absolute cleanliness everywhere, no crime, no worry about getting pick pocketed/mugged, nice friendly people, no homelessness, no tent cities, affordable/cheap prices for food and basic necessities. Every little town I pass I the high speed line had massive construction going on from high density apartments to infrastructure. Honestly the only complaints I have is that the entire country is hot as balls right now and the food situation is a bit rough as a person who's both vegan and a somewhat picky eater, they only seem to have mainly Chinese food everywhere and as good as it is I need some variety in my diet and it is hard finding all vegan places as well.
I honestly I have now come to realize that the reason we are so strongly propagandized against China in the US is that it would break the average Americans brain if you saw how well they are living here compared to the absolute under-devoloped shit we put up with in the US.
Ask me any questions you have and I can also post pics if interested!
tbf based on other comments they seem to have also visited Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities which in their own right are seeing faster development and are as impressive as a lot of well functioning European cities. So the overall impression is somewhat representative of the lives of more people than the populations of the US or the EU
Yes, Guilin is a 3rd tier city and parts of it reminded me of my home, Tehran (in a charming, nostalgic way), but there were tons of infrastructure and housing construction going on, it was relatively clean (especially compared to US cities), and felt very safe and not to mention absolutely stunning geography.