I own a CS Cyclone RX3 (see
rx3adventure.com) and I can tell you that there's a night and day difference between the quality of construction of that bike and any of the Chinese scooters I've owned. I just picked up a 2008 Shenk (=Jonway) YY150T-12 with 500 miles on it and I'm going through it checking the various systems.
The scooter wiring is sloppy compared with the RX3. I've already found one place where a wire had been trapped and crushed so that there was no longer conduction. None of the scooter connectors on the wiring harness are waterproof either. The welding looks like it was done by someone who was practicing. The alignment of various parts (like the handlebars) is "approximate". Haven't gotten to the fuel system yet, but my previous experience with Chinese scooters tells me I'm probably at least going to have to replace hoses (even on a new scooter) with actual fuel lines rather than just rubber tubing.
I suspect that if you put a bunch of typical Chinese scooters as they came from the dealer/distributor on a 5,000 mile trip like the RX3s, you would not have many left at the end!
Of course we are talking about a $3500 motorcycle vs an $800 scooter, but just because Zongshen got the RX3 right, it doesn't follow that Chinese scooters are anywhere near that standard of construction and I don't see many (if any) Chinese scooter manufacturers whose goal is to equal the quality of Japanese or European scooters. Their goal still appears to be to turn out the cheapest possible product. The Kymcos are somewhat better, but still not up to Japanese/European quality.
There's also the issue of support (or lack of it). CSC support for the RX3 is excellent. The average importer support for a Chinese scooter is zero. If Chinese scooters ever want to hit the mainstream, that has to change too.