I think you are hitting the right point, that China's system has a lot of flaws that we don't want to pick up. However, you are casting this in absolutist terms, "NOTHING about China's economic system would be appropriate," and I do not think that is correct either. Just because China has some flaws, such as its inability to handle environmental and social problems, it is a fallacy to then say that every thing about it is flawed. I think a more reasonable response is to say, "we should look to Northern Europe, but we should also look to China, and be wary of making the same mistakes found in any given system, whether in China or in Northern Europe."
Lately I have been trying to avoid using weasel words. I'd rather err on the side of painting with too broad a brush than weaken my statements with a bunch of qualifiers that add no meaning.
Having said that, I really can't think of one aspect of China's economic system that would be appropriate for the US to emulate. We're envious of their growth rate and insecure that their GDP will surpass ours, but that doesn't mean any of their actual policies are appropriate for the US economy.
