OK - serious post.
I was involved with Chinese controllers indirectly a few years ago, mostly around the ICAO Language Proficiency requirements.
To answer watchyourairspeed, Chinese controllers are for the most part highly capable, but just like where I am now, they are constantly hindered by a management system above their own management level, that do not communicate with each other in time.
Things that get decided months before from top tier management - along with a deadline, get sent down to the shop-floor with a very short notice of the implementation, that leaves everyone playing catch-up.
Couple the above with a seemingly infallible military, and you have a series of events that can and mostly does end up with a manic outcome, and unfortunately, a culture of saving face then means you get the lacklustre excuses and explanations that were mentioned earlier.
As carl baker rightly says, it leaves a potential black-mark on China's image, however, just like here in the Middle East, where ATC departments have to run everything back through a centralized management hub and then up to the Ministry, across to another one and then back down the chain, it leaves it very difficult for the folks on the front line to deal with the mess they are left with.
Speaking out about, or nit-picking even minor flaws about the ATC system or anything else in China, can come at a very high price, and until people are allowed to do so without fearing retribution from those above them who feel exposed, you can expect the situation to remain unchanged.
Farrell