In the first years, Mao comes across as a calm, generally reasonable and good-humored leader, pragmatic and tolerant in resolving the inevitable disputes and rivalries among his subordinate officials (such as Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping).

Source: https://dissidentvoice.org/2023/03/ideology-autocracy-and-dystopia/

Mao had died and a new reformist leader, Deng Xiaoping, was in charge.

Source: https://sentinelcolorado.com/uncategorized/artist-zeng-fanzhi-depicts-zero-covid-after-a-lifetime-of-service-to-the-chinese-state/

One guiding tenet of Beijing’s economic planners has been “two markets, two resources,” a concept typically credited to former party secretary Hu Yaobang and also espoused by then-Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (link in Chinese).

Source: https://qz.com/china-was-de-risking-long-before-the-term-caught-on-i-1850828659

When Deng Xiaoping succeeded Mao in 1979, the Party reversed course: population, previously considered an asset, was now seen as a burden.

Source: https://www.city-journal.org/china-demographic-reversal