The real question at this point is did they have white servants and beggars in Vedic India as well?
To be fair, greek slaves were indeed a fetish for the rich in ancient India.
Like, what's the purpose of retaining the J-7s in the high double-digits if not in the low-100s in the PLAAF for? There are no other modern combat warplanes in the PLAAF that is single-engined other than the J-10 family, and there will never be manned single-engine combat warplanes in the PLAAF, going forward.
Orderly unit conversion probably. The moment PLAAF decided to not downsize during modernization, this was more or less determined. It just takes time to replace that huge J-7 force.
Also, last sentence is a very major "if".
As we discussed in other thread, there's at least one program with significant visible progress that fits(VTOL), and overall predicting future this way is shaky ground when we aren't a perpetual PLAAF high command. We saw more than enough single engine concepts from China in recent years.
This is especially as we're already in the "J-35A should start replacing the J-10(A/B) family" stage now, there really is no more reason to retain the J-7s.
Last J-7s are younger than first J-10s, and it probably takes way more effort to bring units from those to upper standards.
Also, frankly speaking, given the modern developments, I wonder if PLA is taking notes on what's going on in the world around. J-20/35/36/50 are many things, but they aren't really shahed hunters. And shahed isn't a high point of what low altitude economy can give.