For context: Most of the Chinese people I know are urban, aged around 30. Different generations might be different.

Very hardworking ambitious culture, tends to be a lot of work-related anxiety, everyone really ambitious to get ahead, ehich is admirable in one way, but on the other hand.... well you see the downsides yourself.

There's the '996' idea where people were working 9am to 9pm, six days a week, although I haven't heard of that in the past few years.

Trade union membership isn't a thing most people have on their radar at all; might be stats on internet about unionisation percentage.

Iwworked in China. Workers have great rights on paper. However, long hours are normalized in white collar work. I found it a bit shocking.

Also, talk of unionizing would be scandalous

The world's most successfuly motorbike vlogger, Itchy boots, is currently finishing a tour through China. It's been enlightening to watch - but do accept that I'm parrotting what I've seen there (and she makes a point of focusing on positive things) and some other vloggers on other platforms, I have no direct experience, so apologise for the lengthy reply.

IB has to travel with a guide, and can only stay in cities because hotels need a licence to take foreigners, but even in Western China and the Urghur areas, which I understand are the most restrictive, I've been hugely impressed by the quality of life there. It's certainly not what I expected.

Some intesting things:

Bikes are not that common - everyone in cities uses public transport or private cars. No bikes allowed more than 12 years old, and entering a petrol station requires being stopped by a police checkpoint and the rules are different for each one. Sometimes she has to fuel to one side, filling a can from the pump and carrying it to the bike, others she has to push the bike onto the forecourt, and others she can ride right up. But maybe that's a fuel thing generally - petrol stations are not busy places there, and most cars on the roads seem to be brand new and electric.

A stronger police presence than I'm used to in the UK, but less than many African and other Asian countries she's ridden through (including Afghanistan - yeah, solo female riding a bike through active taliban was an eye raiser!)

Zero rubbish. I mean, NOTHING. I spotted only one piece of graffiti. (Hugely common in Europe, USA, Middle East, other Asian countries). Very high state of cleanliness. Huge road building and other infrastructure programs of truly incredibly scale. Crime rates are extremely low. (Probably at the cost of personal freedoms and restrictions we don't consider here) Cities are often beautiful, with wide streets, separation for motorbikes, loads of parking, lots of trees, open spaces and planting.

The people she meets are much like people anywhere - friendly when approached well, inviting, helpful. The food is superb and offered to guests.

So yeah, what I've seen it not third world by any scale. It's a higher standard of living in the cities than we have here in the UK by some margin for many metrics. Much of this change has been very recent and has come at many huge costs. (I've read a lot about Mao's time and that sounds awful at many levels, including the actions of many of the Chinese people themselves)

Workers rights: They do work longer hours, typically, than we do in the west. 12 hour days, six days a week are common, especially in the megacities. Cost of living there is also very high, and many younger employees send money home to families in rural areas. This is not seen as unusual as the Chinese have a very strong culture of working hard and working together for the common good, not that dissimilar to Japanese working culture. I would not like these hours myself, but my own culture is very different.