Ex-pat since 2007 here. Change is happening quite slowly, internal consumption is still moribund as people save to cover retirement and health expenses (social insurance isn't very strong). Even a big city like Beijing has a lot of fairly empty malls, and if you go to 2nd tier cities, you'll see new developments everywhere that are basically empty.

China does have better infrastructure than say India, and its long term outlook is good. But there are definitely challenges in this and the next few years to get through.