I agree with cap that QQ is an easy way to meet Chinese girls. A ton of them want to practice their English and when they see an English name they will contact you. Also there were some Chinese women on plentyoffish.com which is free to join. Skype is a possibility too as a lot of women, especially near HK it seems, use it for communication at work.
The smoke and smog in China were terrible. I suspect a huge amount has changed since the last time you were there but those are probably the same or worse.
Taiwan has English signage for for quite a few things but seems like most people are very shy about talking to you in English. Very little pollution though especially outside of Taipei. Didn't have much of a problem with cigarette smoke either but didn't go to internet cafes there. Seemed like in China the smokiest places were internet cafes frequented by young children.
I never had a problem with trying to find food...in both China and Taiwan food was everywhere...I'm pretty sure Taiwan has the largest amount of restaurants/food carts per capita of any place in the world. Certainly of any other place I've been to.
EDIT:
If your last time visiting China was 1999, then it's probably changed a LOT since then. I went to Qingdao in 2009 I think and not only could I find cold beverages anywhere and everywhere but there was, very surprisingly to me at least, quite a few high quality microbrews available. I went to a Churrasco restaurant and they had a really great local stout in a huge mug. I had some of the best food I've ever eaten in China, but a lot of that was due to having a guide I think. The girl I went to visit was in her mid-20s and said when she went to college she could see the ocean from her university (about half a mile to the ocean from the university)....we went there and it was solid 5+ story condos all the way to the beach and it looked like they were about ready to tear those down and build something newer/bigger.
EDIT2:
You can find plenty of cold beverages in Taiwan but the beer all seems to taste the same. Tsingtao beer in Taiwan tastes nothing like Tsingtao beer. Tastes like Taiwan Beer. Heineken tastes like Taiwan beer too. At least that was my experience. My wife doesn't believe me but I swear it's true.
7-11s everywhere but everything costs more at them.
My cousin's boyfriend works partly in Taiwan right now and he seems to like parts of it, but he has to work a lot of overtime over there so doesn't get out much. My cousin is going to visit him there sometime and was scared of stinky tofu, but we assured her it's actually quite good.
My wife finally found some frozen stinky tofu and cooked it inside. Holy crap the smell! Our whole house smelled very strongly of fermented tofu. But tasted good.
EDIT3:
Got thinking about food over there and reminiscing...sorry to drag on...
The coolest food cart I have ever seen was in Taiwan. A couple guys had built a wood-fired pizza oven in the back of one of those little daihatsu trucks. I can't believe they didn't blow themselves up at some point. Freaking hilarious to see but it works....another guy had filled the back of his struck with burners and steamer racks and made some of the best and cheapest baozhi I ever had.
My wife relaly misses the food....she has enjoyed cooking more, but she really misses Taiwanese food and the ability to just walk outside and buy some home-made baozi or noodles for next to nothing. And sashimi and ramen are much more expensive here and much lower quality. She's ordered ramen here a couple times and got kind of upset when they brought out these tiny little bowls, so she just grabs frozen ramen now to make.
Sorry, we're kind of foodies...just was surprised at someone having trouble finding food in China. My only problem was choosing what to eat. So many things to try and not enough time.
