My therapist made a comment about how China is a failed socialist experiment because they have 2-3 year olds working in factories. I responded “So we’ve been told.” She looks at me like I’m crazy. (Not a great look for a therapist) “I’ve not seen any evidence of that.”
“Because they’re such a closed country!”
“Which means you have no evidence to your point either?”
“Well, missionaries… anyway!”
Westerners do seem to have a view of China that’s stuck in the 1960s in terms of politics and 1980s in terms of development. Hence the insane cope when people present them with images of even 3rd tier Chinese cities.