Ruses succeeded with Communist rulers of China (8)
I believe the answer is:
scheming
'ruses succeeded with communist rulers of china' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'succeeded with communist rulers of china' is the wordplay.
'succeeded' becomes 's' (genealogical abbreviation).
'with communist rulers of' becomes 'che' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'china' becomes 'ming' (Chinese porcelain from the Ming dynasty).
's'+'che'+'ming'='SCHEMING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for scheming that I've seen before include "Duplicitous" , "Devious" , "Planning secretly" , "Plotting secretly" , "far from 10 [WIDE EYED]" .)