With regard to #1, most definitely yes. Over the last 30 years or so, real wages for factory (inflation adjusted) workers have gone up by about 10x in China.

With regard to #1, most definitely yes. Over the last 30 years or so, real wages for factory (inflation adjusted) workers have gone up by about 10x in China. Today, it's about $4,000 to $6,000 per year for unskilled/semi-skilled labor. Still quite low, but a HUGE improvement. 30 years ago, your typical person in china was a subsistence farmer or worked for about $500/yr (in today's money). What that meant was that they were dirt poor and under threat of famine in bad weather years. Dirt poor means no shoes for your children, no radio or TV, no bike or scooter, meat is a treat instead of a part of your daily diet. Real poverty still exists in China, but is now confined to a fraction of the population instead of being the typical lifestyle. Quite an improvement by anyone measure, IMO.