Hi,
my wife has just received a uk visa from Guangzhou, and a French visa from Guangzhou. I am in in Hong Kong, working for 2 years. She is not working and lives with me 90 days at a time. We will be visiting the uk and France for 5 weeks from the beginning of July. We will be travelling together and meeting family.
The uk office wanted to be assured that my wife had enough money to support herself for our trip (I provided bank statements, wage slips, proof of employment, travel insurance, etc. and said I would be supporting her). We applied for a family visit visa - I got my mum to write a letter of invitation, confirming that my wife will be visiting on the dates concerned and that she will be providing the accommodation. The second thing they want to be assured about is that she will be returning to China - she provided documents showing that her children are living in China, and evidence of me returning to my job in Hong Kong. The visa took exactly the 15 working days which is the average in Guangzhou. I accompanied my wife to the visa office just to ensure we had the right documents, passports, marriage certificate, family book, etc. It cost 835 yuan.
The French visa was much easier. She just had to turn up at the French consulate with 2 photos, both our passports, our marriage certificate and a completed form. The process was free and took less than a week. All this because my wife is married to an EC citizen. My sister gave me an attestation d'accueuil to prove that we will be staying with her in France - turns out it wasn't needed, nor were any of my financial details.
If you are applying for a simple tourist visa in either of these countries, and if she is not your wife, I would think that the process will be much more complicated and with reduced chances of success. She will need to prove that she has enough money to support herself, and they may need a lot of persuasion that she intends to return to China.
I am sure there are others here who can give good advice.
p.s. whatever happens, remember that they are making a judgement based on the evidence that she gives them. It will be unlikely that she will be interviewed. Their worst-case scenario is that she will become an economic migrant, sponging off the state, with no money and with no intention to return to China. The burden of proof is on her to convince them that that is not the case. And the proof has to be in the paperwork.