China's economy is mix of socialist and capitalism. Or as china calls it Socialist market economy.

China itself doesn't consider itself a capitalist economy because the party themselves dictate economic policies, not the market, DESPITE the fact that they co-exist and also allow with private ownership (to an extent).

The type of economy occurred primarily in the 1990s, China rolled out a bunch of economic stimulus programs that essentially translated to "Let certain people get rich first". My parents were actually direct benefactors of these stimulus policies, they have since, thanks to the party, lost it all. Because of these policies, corruptions ran rampant among local governments, and is still pretty prevalent today, although they have, admittedly "cracked down" on corruption.

​

It's in quotations marks because while corruption and bribes have severely lessened, and yes couple governors and local officials went to jail but the entire culture that was stemmed from corruption has blossomed. The entiry business culture that china has today was based on these stimulus programs in the 1990s. Now, they make it less obvious.