My experience has been slightly different,being a Tech,trying to make Chinese sourced stuff work.
We didn't have any direct Engineering input into the design of this equipment,apart from a basic specification.
The units (Radio transmitters) seemed to have had no quality control at all,as most of the faults we found were due to absolutely lousy assembly & poor choice of materials.
The rest were due to bad design.
Initially,of 5 units,1 almost worked,4 did not work at all.
We tried to get some sense out of the factory,but they gave us a lot of double-talk.
Eventually,they said "Send 'em back",so we did.
When they came back,they all "sort of" worked,& with a bit of work were useable.
After a week or so,they started blowing up the PA stages.
We never got any sense out of the factory,& ended up fixing most of the problems in house.
I believe that one of our mistakes was excessive cultural sensitivity,in that we were so worried that we might make the Chinese suppliers "lose face",that we "lost face" ourselves,& they thought they could put anything over on us.
Obviously,this is a different situation with a small number of high cost items,rather than mass production.
In fact,most of the mass produced Chinese stuff I've seen has been fairly reasonable.
What would be best,if you could do it,is learn Mandarin,or find a translator who understands the technology,--& who does not defer to the high powered bosses of the company you are dealing with.
(In other words,an old grump ,not a young Engineering student).
VK6ZGO