China is the oldest civilization in the world. Despite continuing to call itself Communist, the way it actually functions looks a great deal more like pre-commie China than like anything Karl would recognize or approve of.
China was ruled by an educated elite of mandarins for more than 2000 years. In today’s China they have been replaced by the Party members.
In traditional China the mandarins tended to decay into spectacular corruption, and had to be reined in intermittently by an all-powerful emperor. China’s biggest advantage today is that for the first time in its history, business is not derided and despised.
Its biggest problem today is it has no emperor, and in all likelihood the Party mandarins will self-destruct the country. Also Party membership is co-opted, not chosen by competitive examination, which was the saving grace of the old system, since it allowed for new blood from outside the inner circle. Party membership in China is probably becoming more or less hereditary.
Similarly, Korea for more than 1000 years was ruled by hereditary god-kings. Looks like they’re back where they were in 1900. If this story is correct, they might be planning to try the Chinese model to get their economy moving.
But they still have a powerful control over businesses, even if privately owned.