I've flown on several internal airlines in China and never had a problem. In fact, I found them to be quite impressive. Certainly the horror stories you hear of non-compliance with Western safety standards from the passengers' perspective are a thing of the past.
Some safety issues I did identify, in no particular order:
- While jumpseating on a Dragonair (absolutely first-rate airline) A330 from Beijing to Hong Kong, it surprised me that the radio comms were performed in both Chinese and English concurrently depending on where the airline orginated from. Local airlines used Chinese and International airlines (including Dragonair) used English. This would surely have some situational awareness effects.
- At Hangzhou, before boarding a China Xinjiang Airlines 757 to Xian, my tour guide grabbed my bags and some money to buy the baggage handler a packet of cigarettes in order to avoid paying overweight baggage fees. The bags went through a side exit and straight on to the trolley. They had been x-rayed already but certainly not weighed, and this appears to be a fairly common practice.
- Some of the Soviet and local aeroplane types I saw parked are downright scary. Avoid them.
- Crews will not necessarily give safety briefings in English. That's not unreasonable, but if you're not a regular flyer, work out how to make a hasty exit yourself.
Having said that, I could produce a much longer list of the things that impressed me. In addition, they'll go out of their way to help you.
On the China Xinjiang Airlines flight, once we were in the cruise, one of the flight attendants came over and motioned for me to follow them up the aisle. Not speaking Chinese and having just bribed a baggage handler I wasn't quite sure what to expect and I was relieved when she offered me a business class seat to allow me to stretch my legs for the remainder of the journey!
Have fun, it's a brilliant country.