[pewpew2020]

>>> but having a system where the entire party kept itself in check worked surprisingly well, and each generation knew the next generation, including their children, would inherit the party

The system you are talking about was Jiang's faction. Every few years one or the other faction becomes dominant. Now it's Xi's faction. Nothing has changed, it is business as usual.

[Salgat]

That's ignoring that Xi ended presidential term limits and stacked the PSC with loyalists. The last Chinese leader with this much concentrated political power was Mao Zedong.