Anyone doing academic writing, from students at university to scientists, nurses, doctors, engineers, math teachers, vets, all need to read and reference many, many of these academic texts to do any sort of research.
Now imagine every time you want to cite anything, you can only read the synopsis at best because every source wants you to spend $50.
It's normal to need like 50 references for a research paper by the way (although students can get away with 10-20)
I'm sure locking the culmination of human knowledge behind a paywall and limiting the amount of people that can contribute to that knowledge will end well for the species.
chinese system is just the western system put into a much more highly competitive environment. the paper mills are symptoms of a (shittily designed and archaic) system operating in a cultural and socioeconomic environment it should not be operating in.