"__ like so much fine china" phrase

It does sound like an affected phrase to me. It's a metaphor that compares the former object with the latter object as being similar. It's meant humorously, I think.

To translate: In the first phrase, her 'real' inner person is actually a fragile thing, prone to breaking easily, much in the same way that fine china breaks easily. In the second phrase, Danielewski treats our vocabulary like Silly Putty, meaning that he molds it very easily into whatever shape he wants. I think it's meant as a compliment.

It designates an equal measure or amount of 'x' for the simile and is primarily useful when a simile is unclear due to the way the sentence has been constructed.

Consider this sentence from a draft of 'Enigma,' a short story by Katja Rammer, describing the way a demon plays with his smoking goatee:

"He twirled his goatee’s wisp of smoke around a finger and flicked it across the table like a gossamer ribbon."

What is she comparing here? Gossamer ribbons aren't usually flicked across a table, so why would she use 'flicking a gossamer ribbon' as a simile for 'flicking the smoke?'

What she intends is that the simile is not for the verb/action, but for the smoke itself. You may have caught that when you read it; or you may not have. When I read it, I stumbled.

Clarify by calling out the noun with "like so much," like this:

"He twirled his goatee’s wisp of smoke around a finger and flicked it across the table like so much gossamer ribbon."

The expression "like so much" is shorthand for writing out the measurement. In this case, "like so much ribbon" substitutes for "as if it were a length of" ribbon. You could choose to write it out the long way.