China will probably land humans on the moon, they'll hang out there for a little while, and then that will be that for humans in space, possibly for hundreds or thousands of years.
If our modern world civilization continues (which is in some doubt) space will belong to out intellectual offspring, beings designed specifically to live there, creatures who can walk naked on places like the surface of Mars. Maybe if we treat them well they'll invite us along for a ride someday.
Humans such as ourselves are just too damned fragile for space. It's a tremendous waste of resources to keep us alive there.
I don't think it matters if there are "exploitable" quantities of water or any other resource on the moon. In general the political and commercial exploitation of space requires heavy subsidy and does not make our world a better place.
My grandfather was one of the many engineers who worked on the Apollo Project. Bits of metal that he made, metal that he touched with his own hands, took men to the moon and back. That was his pride and joy. (He never ever talked about the World War II or Cold War metal bits.)
It was a grand adventure then, like climbing Mount Everest.
These days climbing Mount Everest is something else.
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