A call to the vastly experienced riders here !

For a long trip in China (2 months), and in general what are your thoughts about the best type of saddlebags, irrelevant of the volume ?
For the YBR 250, some examples :
Hard luggages with racks : http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=2044956300
Or soft luggages without racks to support them (GDW types) : http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=7576252868

Being a complete noob about this (I only tested soft saddlebags, YDC company), what should I be careful about, what should I look for ?
I'd go for the hard ones, because well, they seems solid and the racks help in case of a fall, but it's an uneducated guess for now, please help to make it an educated one !