No problem! Glad to hear someone else appreciates it the same way.

One explanation would basically be cronyism in a country where there's endemic corruption and the government intervenes a lot, and however it wants. It's a pretty classic story from economies all over.

The funny thing about that is that the CCP actually tends to leave certain sectors alone, more than the West even would. It's like a hybrid Confucian/Maoist thing where they don't want to concern themselves with the merchant class. (All I have for evidence on that one is hearsay, sorry)