I think things are more nuanced in China than most people give credit for. The difference between the market system in China versus the market system in the United States is that in China, Business is subordinate to the Party, while in America, the Parties are subordinate to Business.
Communist Party leaders don’t need campaign donations from billionaires to win elections, and every business of substantial size has party officials stationed in their offices to check for compliance with State mandates. The same way Americans are taught the value of Liberal Democracy in schools by default, in China, children are given Marxist literature and treat Socialism as an obvious moral good. America is a cynical country, and because of this, we view all other countries with the same cynicism. China is not a cynical country. Chinese people actually believe in their government, and in Socialism. And Communist Party officials are people; most are middle-class (much less oligarchic than the millionaire-stuffed American Congress) and believe generally in Socialist ideals. Just like how in America bureaucrats need to believe that they are “doing the right thing” for the preservation of Liberal Democracy, in China, Chinese bureaucrats believe they are building Socialism. Ultimately, this belief is the only important thing; as long as the Chinese people do not become cynical, the Socialism is real. What Westerners on the internet think of it does not matter a bit.
You only need to look at how China deals with the super-rich. Despite only having a couple hundred of them, China has executed dozens of billionaires; further dozens have been murdered, committed suicide, or jailed. I can only find data from 2011 (72 dead, no data for prisoners), but they haven’t stopped, and I would be willing to bet the number is well over 100 by today. If Billionaires were truly in charge in China, don’t you think they would object to the government executing and imprisoning them?