China oddly enough has a surprisingly safe airspace system. To the best of my knowedge they have never had a major accident because of ATC. So basically you have a inefficient, overcrowded airspace system that is really pulling through on the saftey sector.
Ever flown there?
Twin Wasp hit it on the head. Traffic separation is archaic, rough, with wide, wide separation. It's really common to be given 360's enroute places, wide offsets back and forth on course...offset right three miles, then back, then offset again.
China is an up and coming place, but not remotely close to whats here domestically, with regard to aviation and ATC.