What really matters is why so many laowai and other foreigners have left China.

Oh, yeah.....silly me...They MUST have left China because they originally came here to find a woman, couldn't find one, so they left.

What does China have to offer these days? Women? NO! Women in other Asian countries are ten
times better. Good food, beer? NO, can get much better stuff elsewhere. A clean
environment? NO.

Is there ANYTHING else in your life as important as beer and women? (On second thoughts, don't answer that - it's a rhetorical question. I'm not even going to challenge your remark about 'good food', because most of us already know that pie and mushy-peas is not a staple diet of Asians).

Friendly people who genuinely make foreigners feel welcome?

I have certainly been made to feel welcome during the last couple of years that I've been here, but maybe, just maybe, that has something to do with my attitude towards Chinese people. Try introducing yourself to a Chinese woman whilst looking into her eyes instead of trying to mentally calculate the size of her bra, and you may actually feel a little friendliness towards you.

Easy to obtain long term visas in China? NO

And? At least we don't have to do a 'visa-run' every 90 days like the poor buggers have to do in your favourite haunt.

A nice climate, good beaches, lot's of sunshine all year round? NO, not in China.

Again, the poor, stupid Laowai who arrive in China EXPECTING to find clean air, white sandy beaches and year-round sunshine, are disappointed I suppose? Perhaps these 'fools' should attend a few geography lessons before buying their one-way-ticket to Beijing?

All-in-all, Pigsy, your comments are valid enough when taken at face-value, but they really have absolutely NOTHING to do with the comparison I was making in my OP.