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China has never had political freedom and the current regime's founder was a diehard communist. But hey, someday you'll see the futility in comparing apples to oranges.

It's hardly apples and oranges. You can see the results in a society where intellectual property has no value. China doesn't have a domestic software industry (really) because it grants no protection to intellectual property. Sure, they have a token "crackdown" every now and again to keep the yankee imperialists sending money in the foolish hope that the Chinese will someday buy their products ... but China will remain a backwater sh*thole unless it joins the modern world. That means embracing IP sanctity.

China doesn't have a domestic software industry (really) because it grants no protection to intellectual property.

I think your cause ("it grants no protection to intellectual property") is not the sole reason there is no Chinese "domestic software industry." Granted, it may contribute to it, but I think the stronger causes are probably the economic system they have (Everything belongs to the state), and the lack of true university-level education in that industry. There are undoubtedly more reasons, but I think the one you mentioned is kinda far down the list.