I just really, really don't want to get into a huge "no true Scotsman" fight over what fits the definition. It isn't productive on either level. I'm perfectly willing to concede that China's an example of communism, even if I think it's a fairly shitty implementation of the principles.
Especially since if we apply the standard in reverse, there's no "good" implementations of capitalism, either, and then we're just left spinning our wheels pointlessly. On both sides.
Plus, mid-20th-Century China leading into modern China would still qualify as "success" by pretty much any objective measure of an economic system's function.