Oddly enough, I sometimes think that their centralized economy is trying to do more for it's people and environmental problems than our market driven capital economy.
Why odd? This is, after all, what socialism is all about - doing good for the people.
btw. "Centralized Economy". There is a huge misunderstood fact of life here. Like it is impossible to do it on a state level size.
Putting China aside, there are a dozen entities on earth with a higher GDP than the former USSR, all highly centralized planned "economies". They are called Apple, Google, Microsoft and so on.
China "is trying to do more for it's... environmental problems" precisely because they have made their environment so bad over the last several decades. That's why people have to wear masks in major cities.
Yeah. It was wealth first. The very first, right after the leadership of The Party, of course. ;) And the reason for wealth first was because that is the only way The Party could keep it's power. There is no country in the world where farmer's revolts happened more often. At one time in history there were 100+ uprisings
per day over several years. And of course there was Mao...
You cannot understand Chinese economic politics without this in mind.
But saying it just this way is too one sided again. It is like saying the USA is full of Trumps. It might look so, but in a lot of cases it is not.
I could say a lot against the politics of the Chinese in regards to human rights, but generally they know what they are doing. And foremost, they have a Plan. With capital P. Where the US thinks in presidential terms, the Chinese government is thinking in several decades.
Most people in the USA have still not realized this, but by 2050 you will no longer be the most important country in the world - if everything happens according to the Plan of course ;)
The Chinese are right at the point of taking over Africa. And central Asia with the new Silk Road. They are even building military bases, something extremely unusual for the center of the world (as per historical view).
And yes, they are heavy into regenerative energies. They may build a few nuclear plants, but they also build more PV and wind than the rest of the world
together if I remember it correctly.
There current stance since a few years is to go from the "workbench of the world" to be the "producer of the world", and they do go against pollution - depending on importance and political climate and such factors, of course.
The Chinese government is sometimes several years too slow, but if there is one thing you cannot say about them is that they do half-measures. One child politics anyone? That was part of the wealth plan. Economic growth must be (a lot) higher than population growth to keep stability. It is a bet on the economy outpacing the aging process. A huge bet. We will see who wins in 50 years.