Hi Dylan,
I work in aviation and you're unfortunately right on the mark - these are mist nets and they're commonplace at most of the Mainland airports I visit regularly.
Good luck with lobbying for improvements - Chinese aviation, and everything related to it, is run more or less purely by the military and no-one stand a chance to change, or rather improve, the terrible state things are in. Not even the International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO, seems to have much power.
Although birdstrikes are potentially dangerous, there's plenty of ways to deal with "threats" from birds in a much more humane way. We see that all over the rest of the world.
Not many years ago in Beijing some poor old bloke was walking up and down the runways all day hitting a big gong gong - not only was this quite a charming, very oriental, take on bird-scaring, it was also good for our feathered friends (although I feel sorry for the poor guy too!).
It's not easy to change the world, but it doesn't hurt to give it a try.
All the best, also to the passerines going through Shenzen airspace(!),
Morten
