u/Jmlsky - originally from r/GenZhou
To speak quickly, the context can’t really be compared. In USSR, gorby era reform occured after a decade of weakening of party control over the state and the rise of nationalism in a lot of SSR. China isn’t remotely close, first it’s not an Union of republic, second they fought and still fight autonomous movement all around China, whereas USSR from the start had as à core rights, for republic to seceed if they wanted, which was logical given that most of those young republic were former Czarist colony.

Second, the economical development level. USSR was way ahead of Deng China, they had one if not the biggest industrial complexe of the world, were planning their own internet, had a very much advanced space program which even included a spatial station (mir), whereas China just get out of the heavy focus on steel production and other heavy industrial sector, especially in the north east, in what is called now the Rust belt. It is easier to enjoy growth when you create a new sector, everything is to be build from scratch, it’s harder to revolutionarize or even reform an already existing and old industrial complexe.

Third, the reform themselves. China Opening reform are to be understood in the long history of EEZ in China history, aka the South coastal cities. What Deng did was something the Chinese always did, meaning opening à certain numbers of cities to foreign capital and restrict and control the income of capital on those specifical zone. It worked in the past, it’s also what allowed Western power to meddle in China internal affairs, so the risks were known and assumed.

What is truly a CPC innovative and vanguardist call was to bet on the développement of high technology sector, especially in late 70s post-mao China. Imagine Deng saying “There, we will soon lead the World technological sector”, pointing at Shenzhen, a poor fisher small town.

It paid off. The cost has been heavy, especially at the beginning, when they stopped to invest and focus as hard on steel production in the north east, when they putted thousands of workers who migrated from their hometown to go get an urban life there straight into unemployement, homelessness and misery, but it was a needed step. They could have worked it out better for those workers imho, but it is easier said than done, and one would have to be criminally blind to not admit that, at à macro-economical level, it paid off.

That’s my analysis at least.