Costs are reciprocity for what US charges Chinese citizens when applying for a Visa to the US. So not really "pricey" but rather in answer of what the US government charges. Which makes it for US citizens easier to get a multi-entry Visa, where you only need to provide flight/hotel details for your first trip.

For most European countries passports, it's (a bit) cheaper to apply for a Chinese Visa, but they've increased prices as well, and getting anything more than a single-entry visa needs serious reasons (say, you booked two trips already, then it's no problem to get a two-entry one, but for a multi-entry, you need good "background" to your claim etc.) - it used to be so much easier in the past, when I got multi entry visas without any flight/hotel bookings, and in general it was easier to get Visas for most other countries, too. The last years weren't good times for travellers, with many countries increasing Visa fees, starting to need Visas, make it harder to get them etc. -