system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: (1961/Kennedy proposes a man on the moon... 8 years later, Armstrong walks on the moon. As of 2016, China is projected to have a man on the moon by 2036.) Why is it taking so long to achieve manned lunar flights in an age where space technology and safety efforts are so much more advanced?

Kennedy proposed getting a man on the moon and back to Congress in 1961. Eight years later, in 1969, Neil Armstrong and crew landed not the moon and returned, following with several trips to and back made in a short period of time after, before the Apollo program ended in 1972.

This appeared to be a good system of getting people to and back from the moon with the technology that was available at that time. It appears the only reason these missions were stopped were due to financial cuts and issues of the like. 

How is it now that with China preparing a lunar mission for some time now, with an estimated departure date of 2036. Why is it taking so long? The time of its vague announcement in 2016 to projected fruition is basically 20 years. Double the time that 60s era computers and astronautical scientists needed then. 

The technology and safety efforts that sent the men to the moon in the 60s and 70s could have only been perfected, fine tuned, and strengthened at this point. (This may be inaccurate, but I've been told many times that a modern day calculator has more processing power then the Apollo computers did...) I know finance is a huge factor, but is it really the only factor? And is it even a factor for a superpower like China?

Safety is important and needed, but travel anywhere is not without its risks. Money is important and needed to fund projects like this, but there are still funds sending rovers and rockets into the cosmos gathering information and such. So whats to stop anyone from funding missions that can actually equip passengers again? It appears from a civilian perspective that 90 percent of the scientific ground work has already been laid, but you'd think with these time lines that they are starting from scratch.
gpt
The US threw an absolutely astronomical amount of money and resources at rocket technology in the 1950's and 60's. It was, by far, the highest priority in US defense R&D for a decade or more.

A space program isn't something you can buy off the shelf, even in 2018. Just building up the institutional knowledge takes decades. The technical challenges are also huge. Remember that China did not produce its first domestically manufactured ball point pen until 2017 because they didn't have the technical capability.

Manufacturing is hard. Manufacturing a moon rocket is incredibly hard.