Well I arrived post COVID and it's absolutely fine. I stay at my apartment mostly though, which is on the campus of an international school. But I don't feel super oppressed going out. If anything I think the biggest problem is too much "convenience", so everything from online taxis to order from Taobao (similar to Amazon) is REALLY easy, but EVERY app has your phone number and you just know there's got to be spyware on apps like WeChat and the like... So that's not great