China is doing better than the western world in a lot of areas, because of its sheer size and different spending priorities etc. Some of them out of my experience in living and studying in Shenzhen are,
Big Bang Economic Reforms: China is better at making hard choices to sustain and guide economic growth. Chinese leaders wowed to control air pollution as it reached hazardous levels. At the expense of marginal industrial output, China reduced its coal consumption by 8 percent in just four months. China just cut CO2 emissions by the same amount emitted by the UK since the start of the year

European countries are still struggling in deciding which path to follow to get out of recession. China on the contrary has been actively undertaking economic reforms to rebalance its economy. The short term effects of the same are detrimental to growth and hence not populist but they are needed. I have never read of such fast paced economic reforms in the context of western countries.

Public Safety: Chinese cities are very safe. China spends as much on domestic security as on national defense and while there might be many motives to do so, one clear benefit is that cities in China are very safe. This is not just in comparison to the western world though. I feel infinitely more safe in Shenzhen than I do in New Delhi. No matter where I am in Shenzhen, I am not more than a kilometer away from one of the mobile police vans scouring the city. China is so safe for tourists and backpackers that I feel bad for my friends who travel abroad as exchange students that they would expect the same standards of public safety and later feel disappointed and at worse, hurt themselves.
Investing in Human Capital: Higher education is becoming expensive and inaccessible by the day in the United States. China on the other hand has done an amazing job of ensuring quality higher education for most high school students. It has not just invested in human capital but taken an active role in creating the kind of talent it needs for development. China Scholarship Council, an arm of the Ministry of Education funds Chinese students abroad with the condition that they come back to China to work. A couple of my friends are pursuing their PhD's at Oxford and Yale under this scheme.

Infrastructure: The Chinese approach to infrastructure despite its criticisms is miles ahead of that of the western world. The Chinese forego the short term rate of return with the long term benefits of the project. The high speed rail in China even though it will run in losses for another decade has fundamentally changed people's perception of distance and benefited Chinese businesses. A western country (or even India) would have deliberated for a decade before building the Three Gorges Dam and the dam itself would have died a slow death because of an avalanche of litigation against it (ex. California HSR).

Sunny Mewati's answer to Why hasn't India been able to build a large-scale infrastructure comparable to China's?
Renewable Energy: For all the media coverage regarding environmental pollution here, China has invested more than the western world in developing renewable energy sources.

From an American university student's perspective, here is how the Chinese culture, via. the city of Shanghai, is dominating in comparison to the United States, from a personal, Point-of-View perspective:

Public Transportation:
The system of mass transit is very streamlined in the country. As the country does suffer from traffic issues during rush hour times, China has created alternative systems for getting around that are both reliable and speedy. In example, the Shanghai subway system interconnects the city through a multitude of spokes. Turnover times for new trains to appear, at any station, are near instantaneous, and you will never need to worry about the potential injury or loss of life through threat or gunpoint; versus American subway systems. Additionally, use of the subway is very economical, as a trip to anywhere around the city of Shanghai comes to the cost of, roughly, USD $0.45. Taxis are just as affordable, with trip totals for about a double digit mile ride costing USD $10.00.

Public Safety:
As highlighted briefly above, the ability to travel anywhere in Shanghai at anytime of the day or night is safely allowable. Woman walking at night un-harassed, children walking to school without a kidnapping threat, and completely minimalistic street crime is what one will find, on a daily basis, in the city. There is a security guard at every corner and everyone seems to be focused on the task at hand, with no task revolving around the emotional outburst, whether from anger or enjoyment, of hurting others for the fun of it.

Daily Cost of Life:
The continually depreciating assets that overtake our lives to maintain, such as oversized homes, cars, utilities, electronics, and so on, are greatly minimized in the country of China. The common day man does not own a car or a house on mortgage and is content to live his/her life with only the simplicities. As retrospect, lower class workers, such as those working in entry-level jobs, do not actively protest the wages paid to him/her, which usually amount to the USD equivalency of $2.00 to $3.o0/hour.

Food:
In a lighthearted manner, the food here is absolutely a must to try. While a diverse amount of options are available to the adventuring Foody, any introduction into purely authentic Chinese food will completely set a new standard of expectation the next time one order's from Panda Express or any other "international Chinese food franchise." Costs of food are absolutely cheap as well, with well-portioned meals amounting to about USD $2.50.

Purchasing Power:
China maintains a leadership position in regards to how much one can spend against one unit of the country's currency, the Chinese Yuan. Costs for common necessities are much smaller than in comparison to the costs one will find in the United States too. For example, the average cost for a bottle of water at a local convenience store, chilled, is approximately USD $0.30.

The list can be continuous in many respects, but I believe it is only appropriate for anyone to visit the country and see why the American viewpoint of negativity against China is complete rating-induced fabrication.

As advice, nonetheless, take the time to live in another country for an extended stay. The benefits are limitless.

Surprisingly China is one of the world leaders in Renewable Energies. It's actually a huge part of Chinas Economic Stimulus Strategy. A lot of this came about due to China's realisation that they had no oil reserves of their own, and coal is rapidly dwindling. Unlike 4 year democracies, China plans for the long long term, and knows that energy crises could be a catalyst to anti-government action.

Currently 17% of all of China's energy is generated by renewable means. According to this China Could Replace Coal with Wind by 2030. The source is dubious, but there is very good evidence that China's renewable resources are growing at a faster pace then most countries around the world. This is way ahead of anything any western country is doing. It's for much more pragmatic reasons then the environment, but the outcome is the same.

The west should take a look at China's stance on long long term projects that go beyond their terms in office.

When it comes to the advantage of China, today, I would say it's the education system that ensure the social mobility (although not equality ).

Take me and some of my friends for examples, we are from the underclass of China ( the peasants' families) but we entered the top university successfully. That's not showing off, why can we make it? Because we have a educational system almost base everything on the scores of the final tests.

We may be lacking for cultural capital when we were at home;However, we could receive quality education in schools and we could do very well as long as we worked very hard. Yeah, work very hard and get high grade, and then we can get admitted by our dream universities.
PS. Grade and the Rank of you in the final exam is the only decisive factor for the university to determine whether to admit you or not. No application!

I saw many of the students from underclass change their life in this way. And many of them will enter the school of law; school of medicine as the tuition in these schools are just like mine in other department (around 5000 Chinese Yuan;less than 1000 dollars per year). They can really afford to get diplomas of these subjects. Further more, we did receive financial aids from the university, social agencies and the government. Some of my friends who were from low-income families did receive the aids and can live and study without any part-time job.

As a sociology student, I know I have to provide some academic resources for reference.

1.Learning to labour: How working-class kids get working-class jobs. It's important because many of my friends were just like the lads on this book. Actually it's more their own choices that made them to abandon schoolwork and become workers.……They just hated the exam system. But ironically, that's the only reliable ladder for them to climb up. Thus I say the exam-system ensure the social mobility (you can choose to work hard and take the advantage of this game); but not the equality( actually many students from underclass abandoned this ladder as they just hated it)

2.Two papers relevant to the social mobility.
One is Economic Transition, School Expansion, and Educational Inequality in China, 1990-2000
Another is The Impact of the Cultural Revolution on Trends in Educational Attainment in the People's Republic of China
All quant studies but I believe they provide new perspectives on the issues of Chinese Educational system. Supplements for my answer.

However, we found faked out now as …… The students from the rural areas, underclass just can't change their destiny even they were admitted by top universities. I am of one of this lost generation but I still believe that we can still make a difference if we do work harder in universities. ( That means we have to keep fighting like preparing for the final test, thought in another form.)

Of course many people criticize the exam-oriented system. However, I do appreciate this system because it gave me the opportunity to go to university and learn more knowledge and then be able to criticize itself. (And then I can have spare time to surf the Quora and write in English, talking with friends all around the world )

I believe that as there are severe class distinctions in China, different people will hold different views on it. But I hope to provide a kind of underclass view on this question.
Discussion Welcomed!

Humanism. Not subject to or bound by religious rule, over 70% of Chinese are atheist.

Meritorious Authority. The sense of one's social standing, built up through merit and experience, not by popularity.

Dutifulness. A respect for the natural order: socially, politically, and religiously.

Piety. Care for the aged as priority.

Perseverance. Mental and physical endurance in the face of hardship.
Practice thrift and frugality. There is a wise old saying: “Eat it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without. Thrift is a practice of not wasting anything.
Mercy. Mildness and gentleness, and the ability to set aside previous transgressions. (China never asked any war reparation from anybody.)

Self Cultivation. Cultivate virtue in your self, and virtue will be real.
Cultivate virtue in the family, and virtue will flourish.
Cultivate virtue in the village and virtue will spread.
Cultivate virtue in the nation and virtue will be abundant.

Cultivate virtue in the world and virtue will triumph everywhere. Lao tzu.
Peaceful Coexistence. Respecting others is respecting yourself. (China as the world’s most powerful country arrived in Africa 600 years ago before the Portuguese, China respected African people and did equal trade with Africa.)
The only ancient civilization that has continued to this very day. China is a large nation with an intelligent, hardworking and, to date, peacefully minded population.

Omololu007:
As for me food is very cheap in china,that's why I prefer it to the uk.

Omololu007:
As for me food is very cheap in china,that's why I prefer it to the uk.