The government isn't really that efficient or centralized. The top bosses in Beijing say X, and that gets filtered down and translated through 10-20 Confucian layers of beaurcracy, at the bottom, the emperor is far away, as they say. And corruption...if everyone breaks the law, you are at a disadvantage if you don't also, and will simply go out business. China will have to improve their governance significantly if eg have any chance of cleanup the air. Xi jinping is treating corruption and pollution as two sides of the same coin at least.
LA in the 70s is nowhere near as bad as hebei/Beijing is today. Maybe London in the early 50s....it's hard to say.
They send their families to Europe and the US, becoming "naked officials." I doubt many of them spend much time in Beijing these days; they all have retreats where the air is clean, as well as very good air filters when they are Beijing (official use was used as an advertising point until the CCP shut that down).
LA in the 70s is nowhere near as bad as hebei/Beijing is today. Maybe London in the early 50s....it's hard to say.