they were too focused on the USSR and the Eastern Bloc as well as cuba and helping some colonizers in Africa to care, all during the period of the cold war after the sino soviet split and once mao was out of power ,they were still focused on the things I said and thought China was on the road to neoliberal capitalism ,they were too late to recognizes their mistake

Also Cuba and the DPRK are still communist nations and I think that's a million times more impressive than china surviving imo

They seized the means of production. Then they did their best to take from each citizen what was their ability and give to them their needs. Like, it is incredibly hard to get thr basic right like that but it works

I've been wondering about this too. Besides the good answers given here, I suspect / speculate that it also has to do with a national pride after the opium war. Even though China didn't manage to fully shake off the corruption of the elites then or now, there is a strong desire to make the country better and to invest in education, research, prosperity and healthcare. Because that was how their enemy the British Empire beat them. Like they believe in something other than money.

They also avoided entering an arms race with the US. Maybe they were (seen as) less ideological. They saw themselves as Chinese instead of "Sovjiets".

Then you also need to be clever with how to deal with foreign propaganda influence. You can't have a free press if you're on the US radar.

Maybe the answer is as simple as "they had better / stronger leaders" while USSR was too repressive / purged any opposition.