China is not a Western country where things work - relatively and comparatively spoken - the easy way. Communist countries like China have their own kind of security doctrine, and their basic approach is "trusting someone is good, but control is always better". The latter is a saying from Lenin.

Even so, if you're the kinda bloke or sheila who can go with the flow, it's a wonderful country to live and work in. That's why so many FT's prefer China to the decadent West. There are many good Chinese here who will respect you.