Steppenwolf I agreeded with your post before last about this country mostly churning out poor design but with your last post I have problems.
At the time this policy to promote progress was actually “a twap” set by Mao and his cronies to catch those who would willingly criticize the new regime (they may have been surprised by the amount of negative feedback they received), those who spoke out quickly found themselves out in the countryside manning the latrines or worse during the great leap forward and the cultural revolution which swiftly followed, the monster was nothing but a reactionary and an enemy of logical thinking. I hope anyone with even a passing interest in Chinese design would read up on Chinese history, as it would show how far back what amounted to a design industry at the time was pulled and how much further they need to go before they are truly taken seriously as an engine of design.
The Chinese (mainland) mindset is much less complex than you would imagine and at times disturbingly simple to the point of frustration for an outsider (my fav example some mouse for a brain in the sticks cranking out fake durex in his factory, “cheers for the close call buddy”); thank the lord for the communist party marshaling the masses and forming them in to something useful (cheap workers).