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!
At the rate that the PRC is making unsustainable loans, they’re begging for the next bubble to be theirs, not ours. That’s what stands between here and there.
As we’ve just learned in the US, reckless lending standards and “Make Believe Banking” leads to hugely disruptive economic disruptions. The Chinese would be better off to adopt the practices of nations with much more sound banking practices (eg, Canada) and not play the Asian game of “public banking statements” vs. “private banking statements” — because the outcome of that game has been on display in Japan for the last 15 years.
While I agree with you that China is making large strides in manufacturing, they’re still idiot communists on their ag and food policy, and the ag trends in large areas of China are very worrying. Hungry people don’t make for stable governments. To quote a fortune cookie I once received in a Chinese restaurant in the Bay area of CA:
“An empty stomach make a poor political advisor.”