The Chinese NOW have some good technology, but the gap is still there, and in 1958 the vast majority of Chinese were rural farmers with marginal literacy —plagues were common, and privately owned cars almost unheard of.
At the time the PLA still had a VERY large proportion of equipment pulled around by horses —most PLA aircraft were prop-driven and jet aircraft of any variety were something of a rarity.
Yet here we are to believe the PLA had planes that could climp to and engage U-2’s at their operational ceilings, or even best them, smiling loftily away from above.
This photo series only shows the high level of confidence their government has that their public is in the dark about technical matters, or their belief in the strength of blind nationalist zeal —most likely a combination of those two.
As their capabilities grow (e.g. construction of an aircraft carrier), my guess is we’ll see LOTS more creative historical revisionism.
Must have been Real-Time photos from Sputnik 2. /s