Mao Zedong ruled China from the end of the civil war in 1949 until he died in 1976. He implemented a centrally-planned economy following communist principles, but China remained an improvised nation. During the Great Leap Forward from 1958 until 1962, an estimated 30 million Chinese starved to death. Deng Xiaoping succeeded Mao and began a gradual transition to relatively free markets and private business. As measured by purchasing power parity, China is now the world's largest economy. How China managed this extraordinary economic transition. It's a big history, so you may wish to focus on just a few aspects.