China started thriving in early 80ties precisely because they considerably loosened the central planning. For example, they allowed plant directors to have some

China started thriving in early 80ties precisely because they considerably loosened the central planning. For example, they allowed plant directors to have some input into what a plant is going to produce and into setting prices of their products. Beforehand, it was all decided centrally, with plenty of absurdities unimaginable for Western people. One tiny example is the shortage of bread in Poland in the eighties, which was caused by the centrally set price of bread being lower than the price of the ingredients... So, bakeries did everything to bake as little bread as possible, to minimize their losses - resulting in a nation-wide shortage. There's actually a whole subgenre of comedy in Polish cinema, focusing on realities in living in a centrally planned economy.