We can't overlook that the 80s and 90s were 30 years ago and a lot happens in 30 years. The entire political zeitgeist of the US for the last 30 years has not been a focus on building wealth or general prosperity. The government has official policies and occasionally rhetoric that excessive savings are a problem.

Furthermore, speaking for my observations of the West, most of the political focus has been on progressing redistributive and environmental policy. Resisted every step of the way by people screaming that the policies are economic disasters. Mining and manufacturing is simply not easy in the West and doing what China does would be flat out illegal - so it isn't so strange if the States starts falling behind.

There have been a lot of changes in the US for the last 30 years. Are there any that can honestly be said to have been pro-free-market, or even experimentally proven to be good ideas? China has been running constant experiments with free market policies in places like Shenzhen and has been building engines of manufacturing wealth and prosperity. Running experiments with an open mind is a great way to figure out what works.