I can most definitely confirm, that a majority of these folks are not paid.
I had a relative go to China (Shanghai,) for the first time at the end of November. I watched them share the seven hundred some pictures they took.
. . . and yes, they told me that when they were on that train to Beijing, it really was quite impressive. This is just an empirical fact. I have no idea why you think most of the folks making those videos would lie or be, "paid?"
en.wikipedia.org
The entire family, no matter their politics agreed with them.
It would be so awesome to take such a thing from Detroit to Florida in four, four and an half hours.
Who wouldn't? Far better than flying or driving TBH.
I am not saying anyone is "paying," you, but the establishment here churns out a lot of anti-China rhetoric, and you are parroting it, just like a lot of other folks parrot what is on our own establishment media.
The fact is, the folks that run the entire global show know that we, as a nation, need China as much as they need us.