My biggest concern with the mainland Chinese carriers is not the hard/soft product, but the connection. Depending on airport and time of day, you often have to collect luggage, exit and re-check on transfers, which is rather painful...my friend ended up waiting for 4h in the departure hall because counters were not open yet, no lounge, nothing...
It depends on the airport. In CTU you go via Immigration, retrieve bags, go upstairs for check-in.
PEK/PVG (and other FT'ers mention also CAN) have sort of normal transit service.