I would like to answer this question in two aspects. One is economics and the other is morality. As for economics, Dali has improved quite a lot. For example, there were only three bicycles and a few radios in our village at the end of the '70's but now, there are three trucks, five walk-tractors, and one motorbike. TV sets and bicycles are very popular now.
Villagers dress much much better now.
However, as for the morality, I think it is worse than ever. The traditional moralities have been fading away. Yes, we have insurance companies in China. They also sell medical insurance, but the people in the cities rely on their units and the country people have not realized the importance of buying the medical insurance now, or they just don't believe the insurance companies. There is still a long way to catch up to the western insurance system.