Last I went to China (mid-late 2010s), you could visit the less well off areas and off beaten paths in much of China as a tourist without too much hassle.

The issue is most people don't. China is hard enough without Mandarin fluency, but going to urban villages where migrant workers live or Tier 3/4 cities where the majority of manufacting happens is an added level of difficult for "soft" people.

Most tourists perfer to stay in their tourist bubbles, which tend to be a monoculture globally.