Mao Anying survives the Korean War

Let's say Mao Zedong's son, Mao Anying, did not get killed by the Americans in Korea, and returns to China after the war. Would Mao Anying have succeeded his father when he dies and continued the Cultural Revolution? And without Deng Xiaoping in charge, would China have never opened up to the world, or not at the scale it has today?
 
I don’t know if he would be quite the same sort of radical as Mao Yuanxin or Mao’s daughter Li Na (or Jiang Qing, for that matter), since he’d be considerably older (44 in 1966) and more of an established figure, therefore less desperate to “prove himself” to his father (if you’ll forgive my pop psychology here). Though of course he would support the Cultural Revolution, and would likely work with Lin Biao until the latter’s rift with Mao in 1970-71. Perhaps Mao Anying would play a key role in the post-Lin restructuring of the army, further cementing his links with “the establishment.”

Would Mao anoint his son as his successor? Possibly. After all, it’s very likely that one of the reasons Hua Guofeng was chosen IOTL instead of one of the other perfectly qualified candidates was because of his common Hunanese origin with Mao, and so that same sentimentality factor would weigh heavily in favor of Mao Anying.

And then what? I wonder if Mao Anying’s presence would make Old Mao feel more comfortable about his legacy, and so we would see Deng Xiaoping in a more secure position, and less prominence to Jiang Qing/Zhang Chunqiao/Yao Wenyuan?

And after Old Mao dies? Well, let’s see what some other people think…
 
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