China was a third world country a few decades ago. Her thoughts about China are very out of date. Regarding smog, Beijing's AQI is typically 3 to 4 times London's, already a pretty smoggy city.
Regarding the street food being clean, there is an illegal practice of using gutter oil; the government has cracked down on it, but it's still rampant. You could get cancer 20 years later if you choose the wrong vendor.
As for being a progressive country, one of my favourite webcomics was effectively shut down because the author, a lesbian, wanted to include lgbt content such as the leads kissing.
No country is perfect. But, I still have more faith in China than in the U.S.A. You could compare the gutter oil problem to Flint, Michigan; and the U.S. is losing its mind over LGBT people too.