Ok, a little math first. Sorry if it's too cumbersome and detail, but I believe it's fair to present my evidence when I'm declaring a theory. Under spoilers is detail comparison of NatChina and ComChina trees, with numbers.
tl:dr - I believe Chinese Communist tree is weaker and more boring then even USSR one (and soviet one is at least, well, soviet, where you have all the soviet powerbase) especially comparing with other China trees.
First, economy.
So as you can see, ComChina is absolutely bad in industrialization, the worst place from Chinese factions. They got no construction speed, they got no factories, they can get consumer goods bonus only if they permit Opium Trade. If you're going Red Way, you'll end as weakest China possible (and, I believe, the most powerful China would be Warlord taking China as opposing leader). There is literally nothing about building new communist industry for new PRC, and rebuilding economy (that economy NatChina had Inflation mechanic) is Socialist Market Economy (one focus), unlocking Deng Xiaoping and removing crippling economical malus. Also you can say that "Abolish the Land Rent" is also about economy, that's gives you three more focuses and actually makes Opium Trade the best economical action ComChina can do (-15% consumer goods against 10 stability and 10% pp!).
The only profit they have economically is they have Partial Mobilization on start, but as a fallback they have Service by Requirement, penalizing industry and construction.
Politically it's not a lot better.
So essentially ComChina political tree is about fixing two negative spirits and, maybe, weaking youself until you play Mao. Democracy tree of NatChina isn't very nice either, but it's better - mechanically and flavourly.
There is also semimilitary tree.
That's the best tree ComChina has, because it's opening their unique mechanic - infiltration. But beyond it I can't say it seems as powerful as NatChina, or flavourful.
I'm not saying that focus tree should be especially powerful. No, it's not (but being balanced with mirror trees would be nice - essentially it's alternative ideology trees, after ll). But it should be at least interesting. It should be about something. The most interesting things about playing ComChina are in decisions, not in focus tree - Infiltration and Power Struggle; only thing focus tree do with it is locking interesting mechanics.
Essentially, firstly, we have not either focus branches nor decision lines about building a new, better, reddish China, and actually I believe we should; and secondly, I'm saying that's imbalanced and making ComChina far more boring. And not just gameplay-wise, but roleplay-wise as well.
That's my opinion. What do you think?
tl:dr - I believe Chinese Communist tree is weaker and more boring then even USSR one (and soviet one is at least, well, soviet, where you have all the soviet powerbase) especially comparing with other China trees.
First, economy.
I didn't add foreign investors tree, because it's shared one. Also I don't add stability and war support bonuses, but can't say I feel ComChina far more powerful here (Warlord and NatChina trees have a lot of this as well).
Nationalist China tree gives a player:
2 Industry research bonus, 3 Infrastructure, industrial tech company giving +10% resources, 4 military factories, cabinet minister with -5% consumer goods, national spirit with -10% consumer goods for 7% stability and war support.
Warlord tree gives a player:
1 civilian factory, 1 military factory, infantry weapon research bonus, artillery research focus, national spirit for +5% factories build speed (mils and civs); if you go into Nationalist branch, it will be also +1 building slot in all your provinces. (It's the worst way in this matter; if you go into Opposition branch, you will get spirit for -10% consumer goods, spirit for +10% infrastructure speed, spirit for +0.5% manpower and +5% factory output, another spirit for 1% manpower, and another spirit for 10% faster training). In the end, you get NatChina tree retaining everything you got, so sum everything you get as NatChina.
Manchu tree gives a player:
+4 civ factories, +1 building slot for every Manchurian province and +1 Industry research bonus for basic part; and if you're going Assertiveness->Five Equal People (I believe it's worst way for industrialization, right?), you'll get also +2 infrastructure, 5 civ factory, 1 mil factory.
ComChina tree gives a player:
Captain of Industry minister (NatChina have it by default), Prince of Terror minister, +1 Infrastructure in one province, +25 command points limit, +10% command points gain, +10% army organization regain, -15% consumer goods for 10% stability and 10% political power, some bonuses on core territory, more powerful and simple volunteer army. Also you don't get NatChina tree.
For reference, look at another minor-player tree (ComChina have one state, 8 divisions and 6 factories, with 4 steel and 4 tungsten; definitely it's minor). Hungary. 3 bonuses for Industry, 3 Infrastructure, 2 Civ factories, 5 military factions (military industry way; civilian way would be +4 civ factories, +10% infrastructure and Civ construction speed, +12 Steel, +16 Alluminium instead mil factions), 3 building slots and one synthetic refinery.
Nationalist China tree gives a player:
2 Industry research bonus, 3 Infrastructure, industrial tech company giving +10% resources, 4 military factories, cabinet minister with -5% consumer goods, national spirit with -10% consumer goods for 7% stability and war support.
Warlord tree gives a player:
1 civilian factory, 1 military factory, infantry weapon research bonus, artillery research focus, national spirit for +5% factories build speed (mils and civs); if you go into Nationalist branch, it will be also +1 building slot in all your provinces. (It's the worst way in this matter; if you go into Opposition branch, you will get spirit for -10% consumer goods, spirit for +10% infrastructure speed, spirit for +0.5% manpower and +5% factory output, another spirit for 1% manpower, and another spirit for 10% faster training). In the end, you get NatChina tree retaining everything you got, so sum everything you get as NatChina.
Manchu tree gives a player:
+4 civ factories, +1 building slot for every Manchurian province and +1 Industry research bonus for basic part; and if you're going Assertiveness->Five Equal People (I believe it's worst way for industrialization, right?), you'll get also +2 infrastructure, 5 civ factory, 1 mil factory.
ComChina tree gives a player:
Captain of Industry minister (NatChina have it by default), Prince of Terror minister, +1 Infrastructure in one province, +25 command points limit, +10% command points gain, +10% army organization regain, -15% consumer goods for 10% stability and 10% political power, some bonuses on core territory, more powerful and simple volunteer army. Also you don't get NatChina tree.
For reference, look at another minor-player tree (ComChina have one state, 8 divisions and 6 factories, with 4 steel and 4 tungsten; definitely it's minor). Hungary. 3 bonuses for Industry, 3 Infrastructure, 2 Civ factories, 5 military factions (military industry way; civilian way would be +4 civ factories, +10% infrastructure and Civ construction speed, +12 Steel, +16 Alluminium instead mil factions), 3 building slots and one synthetic refinery.
So as you can see, ComChina is absolutely bad in industrialization, the worst place from Chinese factions. They got no construction speed, they got no factories, they can get consumer goods bonus only if they permit Opium Trade. If you're going Red Way, you'll end as weakest China possible (and, I believe, the most powerful China would be Warlord taking China as opposing leader). There is literally nothing about building new communist industry for new PRC, and rebuilding economy (that economy NatChina had Inflation mechanic) is Socialist Market Economy (one focus), unlocking Deng Xiaoping and removing crippling economical malus. Also you can say that "Abolish the Land Rent" is also about economy, that's gives you three more focuses and actually makes Opium Trade the best economical action ComChina can do (-15% consumer goods against 10 stability and 10% pp!).
The only profit they have economically is they have Partial Mobilization on start, but as a fallback they have Service by Requirement, penalizing industry and construction.
Politically it's not a lot better.
NatChina political tree ("Democracy" branch) have 9 focuses. In a mass they gives - 120 pp, 5% Stability, 10% War Support, +50 opinion with democratic majors, +0.25 pp per day and some spirits to became democracy. Also it's removing national spirit giving you -35% manpower; that really is nice, but you can field a lot divisions with basic China manpower, even with this malus and Volunteer army. With Ineffective Bureaucracy removed you have unlimited manpower.
And it's essentially about building democratic legacy of Doctor Sun; at least interesting.
ComChina political tree deserves detail view.
First focus is shared and gives you 120 pp. Nice.
Second one in Mao branch would give you Aftermath of Long March (spirit gives you 25% factory output penalty and Construction speed 50% penalty) penalties eased (not removed). Both soviet and democratic second focuses looks purely decorative, but effectively they're maluses: when you lost Mao, you lost his Cornered Fox trait. That means that every other political way you loss 15% division defense and 10% division recovery rate. Yes, you spend a focus to make you weaker for the rest of the game, and not even for preventing some disaster.
Third one: in Mao and Soviet ways it's removal of Power Struggles penalty (penalty to cabinet and law building cost; just to reminder, ComChina starting with Service on Requirement, that gives -10% to all production, -10% speed for construction and +20% training time, but with Partial Mobilisation). In Zhang Lan tree third one is unlock of political fight with China.
Fourth one: Mao tree just gives you 10 stability. Nice. Soviet tree removes Aftermath of Long March. Very nice. Zhang Lan need to do two of them to move further, first remove Power Struggle and second one gives -5% to stability of NatChina. Just to clarify - it's not gives you something, no. It give 5% penalty to NatChina, which means NatChina would fight with Japs worse (bad for you), create industrial production worse (bad for you, as you will annex them in the end with all their armies anyway), and gives them little penalty (something about 1%, I think) for PP (theoretically, it should help you to build support better).
Five one: Mao creates faction, Soviet joins Comintern, Zhang Lan gives NatChina -15 global support score (that can be seen as requirement for victory in political struggle) and removing Generalissimo trait (so if there is a fight against Japs, NatChina would have quite big penalty to Stability). Zhang Lan one, in my option, is the most interesting focus here... especially if it would be an event, at least news event. What the hell happened with Chiang? Did we assasinate him, oust from power, or what?
Sixth one: for Mao and Soviets and totally decorative "Proclaim the People Republic", that gives them another flag. Only. Hungarian analogue, for instance, gives you territorial cores at least. Zhang Lan goes to Socialist Market Economy.
Seventh one for Mao and Soviets would be Socialist Market Economy.
And it's essentially about building democratic legacy of Doctor Sun; at least interesting.
ComChina political tree deserves detail view.
First focus is shared and gives you 120 pp. Nice.
Second one in Mao branch would give you Aftermath of Long March (spirit gives you 25% factory output penalty and Construction speed 50% penalty) penalties eased (not removed). Both soviet and democratic second focuses looks purely decorative, but effectively they're maluses: when you lost Mao, you lost his Cornered Fox trait. That means that every other political way you loss 15% division defense and 10% division recovery rate. Yes, you spend a focus to make you weaker for the rest of the game, and not even for preventing some disaster.
Third one: in Mao and Soviet ways it's removal of Power Struggles penalty (penalty to cabinet and law building cost; just to reminder, ComChina starting with Service on Requirement, that gives -10% to all production, -10% speed for construction and +20% training time, but with Partial Mobilisation). In Zhang Lan tree third one is unlock of political fight with China.
Fourth one: Mao tree just gives you 10 stability. Nice. Soviet tree removes Aftermath of Long March. Very nice. Zhang Lan need to do two of them to move further, first remove Power Struggle and second one gives -5% to stability of NatChina. Just to clarify - it's not gives you something, no. It give 5% penalty to NatChina, which means NatChina would fight with Japs worse (bad for you), create industrial production worse (bad for you, as you will annex them in the end with all their armies anyway), and gives them little penalty (something about 1%, I think) for PP (theoretically, it should help you to build support better).
Five one: Mao creates faction, Soviet joins Comintern, Zhang Lan gives NatChina -15 global support score (that can be seen as requirement for victory in political struggle) and removing Generalissimo trait (so if there is a fight against Japs, NatChina would have quite big penalty to Stability). Zhang Lan one, in my option, is the most interesting focus here... especially if it would be an event, at least news event. What the hell happened with Chiang? Did we assasinate him, oust from power, or what?
Sixth one: for Mao and Soviets and totally decorative "Proclaim the People Republic", that gives them another flag. Only. Hungarian analogue, for instance, gives you territorial cores at least. Zhang Lan goes to Socialist Market Economy.
Seventh one for Mao and Soviets would be Socialist Market Economy.
So essentially ComChina political tree is about fixing two negative spirits and, maybe, weaking youself until you play Mao. Democracy tree of NatChina isn't very nice either, but it's better - mechanically and flavourly.
There is also semimilitary tree.
NatChina analogue would be Nationalism+Army Reform.
Nationalism: Taking Prioritize the Interior branch (I never tried United Front): 15% stability, war goals against warlords and ComChina, wargoal against Manchu, three focuses about fighting better on core territory and against Japan/Manchu, unlocking decisions about scorched land and industrial evacuation, some bonus manpower (I believe it's a joke) and cheaper Force Attack.
Army Reform: +5 command power limit, +0.05 mil exp per day, said Army Reform decisions (fighting awful penalties), 60 division plan (it's a mission, cost 90 pp, gives you +25% recruitment speed for half a year, if you got 60+ divisions and 550K manpower in field, you gain +10% stability) some forts, +10% stability (remember that focus that removes 5% stability by Zhang Lan? looks very useful, right?), Prince of Terror minister and Whampua Military Academy, gives you -50% general costs and +1 planning skill for every your general, current or new.
ComChina:
+1 Infrastructure in capital, bonus attack and defense on core territory, wargoals against Shanxi and Xibei San Ma, unlocking infiltration mechanics, unlocking Japanese sabotage mechanics, very nice national spirit (+20% attack on core territory, +10% organization regain rate) and 180 days of +25 attack on core territory, or not so nice spirits (+20% defense on core territory and 75% effect from partisans), +25 max command points, +10% command point gain speed, unlocking Prince of Terror minister, +10% stability, removing painful penalty "Red Army Weakened", having big volunteer army).
Nationalism: Taking Prioritize the Interior branch (I never tried United Front): 15% stability, war goals against warlords and ComChina, wargoal against Manchu, three focuses about fighting better on core territory and against Japan/Manchu, unlocking decisions about scorched land and industrial evacuation, some bonus manpower (I believe it's a joke) and cheaper Force Attack.
Army Reform: +5 command power limit, +0.05 mil exp per day, said Army Reform decisions (fighting awful penalties), 60 division plan (it's a mission, cost 90 pp, gives you +25% recruitment speed for half a year, if you got 60+ divisions and 550K manpower in field, you gain +10% stability) some forts, +10% stability (remember that focus that removes 5% stability by Zhang Lan? looks very useful, right?), Prince of Terror minister and Whampua Military Academy, gives you -50% general costs and +1 planning skill for every your general, current or new.
ComChina:
+1 Infrastructure in capital, bonus attack and defense on core territory, wargoals against Shanxi and Xibei San Ma, unlocking infiltration mechanics, unlocking Japanese sabotage mechanics, very nice national spirit (+20% attack on core territory, +10% organization regain rate) and 180 days of +25 attack on core territory, or not so nice spirits (+20% defense on core territory and 75% effect from partisans), +25 max command points, +10% command point gain speed, unlocking Prince of Terror minister, +10% stability, removing painful penalty "Red Army Weakened", having big volunteer army).
That's the best tree ComChina has, because it's opening their unique mechanic - infiltration. But beyond it I can't say it seems as powerful as NatChina, or flavourful.
I'm not saying that focus tree should be especially powerful. No, it's not (but being balanced with mirror trees would be nice - essentially it's alternative ideology trees, after ll). But it should be at least interesting. It should be about something. The most interesting things about playing ComChina are in decisions, not in focus tree - Infiltration and Power Struggle; only thing focus tree do with it is locking interesting mechanics.
Essentially, firstly, we have not either focus branches nor decision lines about building a new, better, reddish China, and actually I believe we should; and secondly, I'm saying that's imbalanced and making ComChina far more boring. And not just gameplay-wise, but roleplay-wise as well.
That's my opinion. What do you think?