I think the Chinese lathes are pretty good quality all things considered. I've owned a few second hand British lathes and whilst undoubtedly better in some respects, they can obviously come with their own drawbacks and problems, mainly relating to the fact that they're often old and battered.
My most recent 1960s era lathe for example, it turns out the emergency stop button was wired up to interrupt the earth wire... I wondered why it never worked... But, on the flip side, it's a 6 x 24 lathe 350kg for about £275...
I did a lot of really precision work on my old little Chinese lathe though. If you can afford one of the bigger ones I think they'd be excellent.
On the whole I think you get more for your money with second hand old local iron though - Boxford, Denford, etc.