55
I've been to China and this is all lies and skill issues.
cities I visited were surprisingly plain, uninteresting and sterile
Chinese cities are much more interesting and much more beautiful than American ones, there's actually some creativity to the architecture. My favorite was Chengdu.
language barrier
Skill issue, lots of Chinese people speak some English and I got by just fine with a couple years of highschool Chinese and google translate. Many signs and menus, especially in big cities, are bilingual in Chinese and English.
the great firewall (which is a nightmare, VPN or not)
Absolute skill issue, I had zero trouble with the great firewall using a China Unicom SIM in my phone and my usual basic privacy VPN.
difficulty with the simplest transactions
Skill issue again, probably related to the language skill issue.
the ridiculous levels of control for mundane things (like taking a train or strolling around Beijing)
Just lies. I went strolling around various cities with absolutely no control and had a great time, just walked out the front door of the hotel and wandered around. One woman I was traveling with said she felt much safer on a Chinese street at night than an American one. The intercity high speed rail (which is fantastic by the way, super smooth, super fast, super comfortable and the 4g never drops) had much less intrusive control than an American airport.
龟
