There are tons of people (not necessarily rich) prefer living in China than in America. They just care about different things.
As a Chinese citizen living in San Francisco right now, I would say the overall living quality in America is no where near as good as in China. If not for the prosperous software industry here, there is no reason to stay in America at all.
China has its problems but America has its own too. The same goes both for the society and the government. I do feel a lot safer walking down the streets in China, and air pollution has never been a big issue. What you see on news headlines are not what you see everyday.