The response you get from the Hebei resident would greatly depend on how much they bought into the official rhetoric of the Cultural Revolution. An ardent believer in the Communist party would say that of course life is better in Mao's socialist utopia. An "intellectual" who had been sent "down to the countryside" and lived in constant fear of summary execution by the red guards would obviously say otherwise.

The Taiwanese person's answer is likely easier to predict. Though Taiwan was far from democratic at this time, it was far more stable and economically prosperous than the mainland.