Wave of the future, unfortunately.
China probably keeps SW on partly to keep their SW people employed. A leftover of communism.
I used to love tuning in to AIR transmissions in the early part of the last decade, and even heard them a few times before the sunspots disappeared earlier in this decade, on my G2 off the whip.
Now I suppose by the time the spots come back it will be one less country to hear. Oh well.