Communist China was pretty communist.
He's likely talking about Communism as defined by Karl Marx in which there was no bourgeoisie. Common usage has long overwritten it's original definition except in disciplines like economic theory.
...Just like how "theory" denotes a repeatedly confirmed model of understanding in field of science, but the public uses it to mean hypothesis.
To my knowledge, all governments thus-far identified as Communist, have had the
government act as the ruling class who owned the means of production, which is completely contrary to Marxist philosophy.