I like the down to earth approach towards development. Doing real things on the ground, whether the action is praised or dismissed by others is irrelevant. Developing countries need leaders that are willing to do real things.
I think in terms of general economic development China will look similar to other East Asian countries like South Korea and Japan, due to being part of the same regional supply chain, similar historical culture, although with its own characteristics.
In the next 5-7 years, the coastal cities and provinces will have similar nominal per capita GDP to today's South Korea. Some cities like Shenzhen ($26,000 nominal, $46,849 PPP) will take just 2 years even if the growth rate slows from its current 9%. There are regions in China that have already surpassed South Korea in per capita GDP but I won't count them since they are mainly commodity extraction zones like Ordos ($33,344 nominal, $59,920 PPP).
For China's coast to reach today's Japan level of nominal gdp per capita would be around 10-15 years.
South Korea 2017
Nominal GDP: $29,730
PPP GDP: $39,446
Japan 2017
Nominal GDP: $42,860
PPP GDP: $38,281
In PPP terms China's coast will surpass South Korea and Japan per capita in 2-5 years but the purchasing power of individuals is not the concern here. The important measure is how competitive China's industrial system is with its regional neighbours, as measured in nominal GDP. While PPP more concerns the availability of production.
The PPP and nominal gap will rapidly close if China furthers along its economic liberalisation plan, which was stalled in pursuit of a strong innovation economy before its faced with intense global competition.
The rate of China's industrial catch up surprises me a lot. I used to think China's industrial competitiveness would take another 10 years to catch up with SK but since a few years ago many industries are starting to over lap.
South Korea's industry won't decline because of China, it just means greater competition. SK and China will be competing in the same industries in overseas markets.
Japan will start to feel pressure in 5-10 years when China's auto, parts suppliers (tier 2-3), optics, aerospace, and biotech ramps up. Although I still think Japan will offer greater competitiveness in food processing, game development, and music industry among others.
China will eventually pass the era of rapid infrastructure building but I hope it never stops developing. New technologies in communications and infrastructure is a continuous development.