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China hasn't been a "Communist" country since the 80's. When Deng Xiaoping took over after Mao's death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform

The word "Communism" is irrelevant for economists. China is still refer to as that for the sake of historical significance.

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It's still widely perceived as "red" both by the general population and in media. The fact that it still has autocratic one-party system is seen as a proof of communism, while the truth is that they actually implement very few socialistic ideas nowadays in terms of workers' rights, social protection, job protection, etc. Take Iceland for instance, it's far closer to the ideas of communism than China now.

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