I think China's fundamentally different than the Soviet Union.

One of the things we were told while visiting is that their conception of "communism" is whatever most benefits the poor and if that happens to be market capitalism, so be it. Now, I think that's self-serving bs rhetoric from the CCP, but it's relevant to them not being ideologically wedded to Maoism.

My perception of China was more that a lot of the "growth" is fake, in the sense that it's cosmetic rather than substantive. However, people's standard of living has unquestionably risen dramatically since Mao died. The fact that China is allowing genuine market processes means that their structural issues can last for a very long time. As long as those problems don't overwhelm the real economic growth, the market can work around them.