there's practically no homelessness. the lack of abject poverty also means there isn't much petty crime.
healthcare is dirt cheap and super efficient (i got kidney stones and pneumonia when i was there and i just walked into a hospital and got world class care pretty much immediately)
the public transit is probably the best in the entire world
the cities are really clean, well planned, and full of trees. residential blocks instead of urban sprawl ensure the cities don't have to take up a lot space while still being able to house large populations. so, more space for nature. shenzhen has a reputation for being a cyperpunk city cuz of how it looks at night, but it actually sits in the middle of a big mangrove forest, and the city itself is covered in greenery.
the social scene is very vibrant because capitalism didn't get to destroy third places like it did in crackerland. muh private property isn't taken very seriously so you can hang out pretty much anywhere, streets prioritize humans and bikes over cars (drivers have to go pretty slow in a lot of places 'cause of all the street markets and stuff).
all the cities have bike lanes and there are probably more people on electric scooters than cars (which are also almost entirely electric)

there's a lot more to talk about but this is already getting pretty long, so yeah china is pretty cool

[–] SchillMenaker@hexbear.net 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure but at what cost?

[–] GenderIsOpSec@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago

so much stockholder value, flowing down the drain doggirl-gloom

[–] SoyViking@hexbear.net 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Would you recommend going to China if you don't know Chinese? Would you be able to communicate outside of the most touristy areas?

[–] Inui@hexbear.net 24 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

My experience is limited to just Xi'an, which I spent a few months in. Almost nobody spoke more than a few words of English as soon as you moved outside the vicinity of the Terracotta Army, the city wall, etc.

This was years ago before Covid, but the vibe was still that random Chinese people were asking to take pictures with me because it was a novelty to see a white person visiting temples and stuff further outside the city.

A lot of the time, we didn't have guides or friends with us, so we got along by communicating with translation apps and asking strangers for help. At one point, we had a whole bus (like 12 people.were actually talking, it was wild) debating on which stop we should get off before someone said "Here!" and the driver ushered us off. Then a woman on the street pointed us in the direction of the place we wanted to go.

So, I would recommend it, but with the caveat that you have to be willing to put yourself out there a bit and talk to people, even if youre socially awkward like me. The language barrier helps dampen it somewhat, and we were usually laughing at each others inability to understand.

[–] Midnight_Pearl@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago

i was with someone who could speak chinese for most of my stay, so it was fairly easy for me despite my limited chinese.

but, you should probably be able to get by using wechat's translation features since it can translate both image and audio. i used it a few times myself.