After the wall came down, it turned out that a lot of the output of the Soviet military industry wasn't actually usable. Lots of shells of tanks, but no motors. Similar to China's empty buildings. They put so much emphasis on appearances to try to cover up their weaknesses.
Except you can see China's output on your local supermarket's shelves. Soviet Union had practically 0 exports of any manufactured goods to non Warsaw Pact countries.
China may be cooking the books to make their GDP/industrial output look a little bit better to hit party goals every year, but the ubiquitiy of Chinese goods in low to mid value added manufacturing is indisputable.
Russian industrial production was usually shit, and consumer goods made in USSR were nigh useless. Buying a Russian car etc. was folly, and the usual flow of goods went in the other direction: East German, Czechoslovak, Hungarian industrial and consumer products went to the east, while cheap raw materials flowed from the USSR to Central Europe.
Chinese industrial production started shit as well, but they have been improving by leaps, much like the Japanese once did. (Odd to think that both Made in Germany and Made in Japan were once intended as warnings, not endorsements.) This is what the Russians never achieved.
Aside from vodka and caviar, finding a Russian product in a standard European supermarket was a detective task. I am sitting now in a fully furnished house and I am almost certain that nothing here is made in Russia. While plenty of things are made in China.
Even higher value added manufacturing these days. My understanding is that Chinese EVs/batteries and some telecoms equipment are highly competitive or better than Western equivalents (yes, they got there partially due to IP theft and state subsidies but still)
