Could a capitalist Mao have somehow taken power in China? And if so what would his regime be like?
No.
If he had tried, he would have failed. His genius lay largely in organizing peasants against the corrupt rulers, whether warlords, japanese or gmd,kmt.
If he HAD attempted a career as a capitalist, hed probably yave been in the gmd,kmt and China wouldnt be much different to the end of wwii.
Not, mind you, that jiang,chiang was very capitalist, and lots of others in the party were even less so.