Actually, according GINI coefficient (going by the World Bank numbers), China has about the same overall wealth inequality as the US: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equ... and is actually on par with such relatively well functioning countries as Turkey and Singapore.
Of course this doesn't translate that well to on the ground conditions, and their top 10% and top 20% share are still very high, but probably not high enough to significantly impact growth. (Now if that cascades into political problems, that's a different matter...)
Almost all long-term economic planning is in the hands of relatively few government officials, but wealth appears to be reasonably well distributed for a country _at their stage of development_. It's certainly not all in the hands of a few thousand people, since the top 20% would be a few hundred million.
Of course this doesn't translate that well to on the ground conditions, and their top 10% and top 20% share are still very high, but probably not high enough to significantly impact growth. (Now if that cascades into political problems, that's a different matter...)
Almost all long-term economic planning is in the hands of relatively few government officials, but wealth appears to be reasonably well distributed for a country _at their stage of development_. It's certainly not all in the hands of a few thousand people, since the top 20% would be a few hundred million.