It might be politically motivated in that China shows a different way to progress but while they have lifted hundreds of millions out of utter poverty, their recipe to success includes union-busting, child labor, long work-hours, etc as well as their foray into "imperialism lite" in Africa. Everything the NYT stands against. So in that light they cannot possibly hold them as exemplars, given those things, even if ideologically the CN gov is leftist.
Children are required to be in school, by law. Some work as well (often in family restaurants as all over the world) or leave early and get low skilled jobs, but outside of purely agricultural areas this is pretty rare.
In my experience work hours are the same as the US (which itself is famously bad on holidays and worker freedom from a European or Australian perspective) for the most part, with a six day per week maximum but better holidays than the US. People who work hard tend to take longer holidays or contract work.
Re: 'stands for' ... not sure how valid bringing in to any discussion the supposed moral stance of a news outlet is.
