You won't to know how off base most of you are?
The people that I knew in china came there because of how lax and easy it was, what were they doing? Mostly some kind of drug or pot because of how cheap their rent was and how lax it was. A lot of them come there for other reasons too that I don't really care for but there is a big difference in how the foreign men treat women and how the chinese men do. And I'd say it's often the foriegners doing then wrong 80 percent of the time imo
Yeah, I know the rules and what can go down for such a thing and no I wasn't a part of that and I have never had possession or tried any drug in my whole life, but when you see people flying there cause of that life style well, that can tell you a whole lot of things that a lot of you obviously aren't getting with this hyper fear spy stuff.
I have never had nothing but help from those in power rather it be government, airports etc They may not have always helped but they at least never were in anyway trying to be harmful or an ass about it. I never experienced that, but hell let me get pulled over in my home country and see how that could go down.
There is no doubt bad there, but no more than any other place, I think you are 100 percent safer in China than the US, minus some pollution in certain cities, but safer without a doubt when it comes to interacting with the rules and people.
I have only known of a few people that actually got in trouble and arrested in China, they were just sent back home for working illegally. Which we all know and are told very clearly when we are visiting the various offices for work or other situations. They try to be helpful, not counter productive.
If your not doing anything wrong there, you have no reason to have any issue most of the time, compared to what you may go through in other countries for being tired , having a certain look or whatever.