Look, can we agree on a couple of things?
1) the Chinese guys gotta improve on the level of their english comprehension;
2) the native english speaking ATC can try a lot harder to use standard R/T phraseology??? In this case, "Air China niner-eight-one, CONFIRM you are cleared to the gate?"
<nb, the official definition of CONFIRM: I request verification of: (clearance, instruction, action,information).>
No guarantee that it would have got the guy to understand, but without doubt it would have increased the chances of him understanding the controller more than the babbling that subsequently occured?