I’ve been flying Chinese domestic since 1995, in the old days of TU154s and Yaks. The rumours going around then that if there was a crash and no foreigners were involved they just bulldozed over the hole.
There were the tatty interiors, spit sodden aisle carpets with passengers opening those overhead bins that hadn’t opened on touchdown whilst still rolling down the runway.
Once on the ramp the passengers were let loose to find there own way to arrivals, dodging taxiing aircraft and the airborne contents of plastic rubbish bags that had been thrown onto the concrete by the cleaners.
In the late nineties the CAAC got organised and started reading the Riot Act and quite a few executives were binned. From then on, apart from a few isolated instances the standards improved incredibly.
There are still the one-three horse operators without any proper organisation or training system who will try to get away with it as long as they can. On the whole, the major carriers like Air China, China Southern, Shanghai Airlines etc have standards that are as good as, and in some cases exceed those in the West.
Brand new modern equipment, brand new modern airports, cheerful, smiling assistance at every stage. Flying in China is now a very pleasant experience.