Here’s another stark, but interesting, comparison. (Countries selected as countries I have friends or family in.)

What I see in this is that it’s more than just capitalist and socialist differences. There are some “socialist” nations that did pretty badly in that mess. There are some “capitalist” nations that did OK.

But the real reason for China’s success is spelled out more here: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1480168091745075200.html

My guess is that China would have done roughly equally as well under its imperial system because the very nature of the people is different.