China is the only place I can think of where Americans are the biggest single group of contract pilots (definitely excluding 330 and 340 fleets).

The recruiting staff at my airline said one of the reasons is we pass the ATP written at a much higher rate. The chinese copied FAR's (down to the number, i.e. FAR 121.625).

The passing rate is extremely low for everybody at all Chinese airlines. If you are over 50 the chance of passing the initial medical are very low. If you don't study a lot, you won't pass the ATP written. IF you can't fly a raw data, single engine NDB approach with multiple other failures, you won't pass your sim.

Unfortunately the medical never gets any easier.