RE: I would also make the case that after Mao died, they went with a reformer who went away from Mao’s policies.
If I remember correctly, the Communist Party chose Hua Guo Feng to be Mao’s successor. The man was such a non-entity that he faded into obscurity. It was Deng Xiao Ping who finally took over and turned China’s economic and foreign policy around ( but not before a huge internal struggle with the Gang of Four ).
When Hua Guo Feng died in 2008, very few people even noticed.
Yep, totally forgot about him too. Yes my point was that it was Ping who saved the Communists in China.