I mean he's not a leftist. I'm ignoring the constant sexual harassment and latent homophobia that seems to permeate the entire show and pretty much every character here and also that he's like a huge dick, but all his criticisms of people, the system and the world are oddly leftist. Never really noticed when I watched it back in it's heyday.
Yeah I rewatched it a couple years ago. It's not perfect media but it aged better than I expected. But mainly, it is one of the shows for which Chinese fan subtitles are available.
It is rough all the time, but it has a lot of heart, and it goes to very real places while other shows that try to do it bungle the execution.