I honestly find China underwhelming these days. Arabia's UA has displaced everything I liked about China. Until you get through most of Aesthetics, the most reliable way to trigger the UA is to chase Great People, and Arabia actually has a bonus to Great People.
I don't have anything constructive to add here. Just that, every time I've thought to play China recently, Arabia got played instead. China's UA can't really work off Historic Events without a complete overhaul, and the bonuses from Great People feel lackluster compared to Arabia.
I feel like if they still had their old UB they would be fine, which means they can still compete given some facelifting.