Haha, oddly enough I find it easier to find quality food in China's bigger cities. Lijiang and Kunming were a struggle for me compared to Shenzhen or Shanghai.
You can also get clean water for free in all US restaurants. In many parts of Asia, you have to buy bottled water, which is often hardly cheaper than soda.
My experience has been that most people in Asia are too passive and prefer to avoid any confrontation, whereas Americans are very outspoken, or downright aggressive. Especially at the airport. When you go back to the US to visit your family, you'll probably find yourself being questioned far more than any other country you visited and weren't even a citizen of.
Maybe you can elaborate on the lockdown point. My point is just that in terms of economic mobility for the local population, the US is better than most of Asia.
Btw, I'm not really trying to pick apart your post. I'm just trying to increase my reputation on here so that maybe one day my stuff will get seen. ._.
The clean water in the US has also been purposely contaminated with Fluoride (itself toxic) in the form of industrial waste products such as Hydrofluoro-Silicic Acid.
You can see a video on YouTube of this chemical added to your water burning through concrete when spilled.
When the OP said there must be something in the water, he was right.
I don't know if they're doing the same thing in China, but probably not. Although I have heard of unsafe levels of fluoride in rural areas in China, it wasn't purposely added.
If you want to get down to brass tacks, I find I am far less docile here. For all the shit taking place stateside these days, they probably do need to ensure that people stay docile.