Your analogy to china is wonderful and accurate @aussieninja.
One of the attack on the crypto market is most of the coins are in the hands of only a few wallets. That makes a lot of sense when you think about it since the early adopters got in at lower prices (and risk I might add) which enabled them to add a large amount. The question is does a token have the ability to be spread to more people over time.
I believe one of the advantages to STEEM is that, through the reward system, tokens are generated and given out to all people who participate. Yes the Whales still get a lot...however, the entire minnow class is getting more and more each day.