There, I agree with you. I’ve maintained here on FR that in the US, we have a “free market” in only illicit drugs and prostitution outside Nevada.
In fact, I would posit that now, all trade conducted in US dollars is no longer a “free market” - being that the Fed is manipulating the value of the US dollar as far as it is.
Hong Kong outstrips the US on ease of business formation by a mile and then some.
I would also posit, however, that mainland China won’t resemble Hong Kong (pre-99) in anything but superficial ways. The banking system in China is seriously command-driven, much to their future detriment.
Give it 15-20 years and it'll be closer to Hong Kong than the current Chinese affairs and lot more free.
China's learned that the Hong Kong approach (and the Taiwan approach) works, and works well. They're not stupid, they're working to change their systems and are starting by opening up autonomy for more and more cities/regions. Shanghai and Beijing are gaining more autonomy and freedom in how their financial and political worlds run...
I hate to say this, but China is moving towards the economy that the US had in the 50s and 60s, and we're moving towards the economy they had in the 50s and 60s. I don't like that trade!