Why is life in china so hard?

Answer 1

The nation of China has a very large population, of over a billion people, in a geographical area similar in size to the United States, whose population in comparison is only a third of a billion people, so China is overpopulated, and has huge challenges in meeting the needs of so many people with the resources at its disposal. China also has had a difficult history, going from a period of arrogant and autocratic Emperors, to being taken over and exploited by European colonialists, to a very destructive invasion by Japan during WW II, followed by the very destructive reign of Chairman Mao, and the madness of the Cultural Revolution that he imposed on China; it has taken China a long time even to begin to overcome the legacy of this history.