I would have to go with the original Russian, I dont think the chinese can make a better sks then russians, and at the last gunshow I was at few mths ago prices were fairly comparable...
I've owned a Yugo, and now finally a Russian. Never had any issues with the first, just wanted the original. The Yugo was neat in its own right with the grenade launcher. Fit and finish is nicer on the Russian. If going for collector value go Russian hands down, there was a reasonably priced one in the classifieds recently.
Chinese. Never wanted to pay the prices the Russians command. The Chinese are well made, almost always chrome lined, and some even take AK mags (you can modify any SKS to take AK mags, there were just some Chinese ones that came that way).
I've had a few Chinese ones can be hit or miss on quality. Their military ones are solid but when they started commercially producing them for export their QC went down the tube.
I've had most of the SKSs, only have a Norinco now because I never shot them much. I'd pick the Russian simply because of quality and fit. But that's only 1 example of a Russian vs a few Norinco.
Quality wise. Russian, Yugoslavian, then Chinese. Romanian are a bit rougher and Albanians are just rough. However, we are talking SKS and that platform is very robust regardless of country and the differences between them all are fairly minor, except Albanians. They will all run fine.
I have a Chinese...love it. Wish I would have picked up a Russian one in the 90s for 100 bucks! I don't see buying another one even though its my favorite gun. The Chinese one I have is very nice...wood has been refinished, though...so that may be why its one of the nicer SKS's I've seen. Well, that and its mine.
Thank you all, I really do not care about purdy or pretty in a piece such as this. In fact, a piece like this can look like a dog turd , shoot reliably and I am fine with it.