How about comparing with Japanese font? I worked in branding in China. I was told many modern inspirations are from Japanese work. IMHO as a Chinese, they generally have much better taste for art in China.
Most Chinese fonts contain more Han glyphs compared to Japanese, especially traditional. Most traditional Chinese fonts will have over 10,000 glyphs, while simplified are about 7,000.
Many foundaries will create a even larger one, with over 22,000 glyphs in a single typeface.
If starting from scratch, yes, it could be very different and requires much more work. However, in many cases, I highly doubt this is what happened.