[anovikov]

China had limitless almost free labor. Soviet Union had a deficit of labor by late 1960s already, and again by late 1970s - in 1974 they did a temporary fix by liberating the peasants which helped for a few years until those ran out, too. Chinese way could NOT work in the Soviet Union, they never had that alternative. The window of opportunity when they had sufficient labor reserves to try it was way too short - some years in mid-1960s - before then, they still suffered from consequences of WWII losses - and even if tried then, that would've been a botched effort just for not having enough time. Chinese didn't get almost anything out of their economic opening for the first ~15 years remember. China remained dirt poor through mid-1990s.

Their only opportunity to truly fix things was to accept Marshall plan, and thus finish with Communism and introduce private properly and democracy, after WWII. But personal ambitions of the leadership prevented that.